CHINA DATA: Compliance carbon market trade volumes fall week on week

Trading volumes of China's compliance emission allowances, or CEAs, in the country's national compliance carbon market dropped by 48.5% to 410,247 mtCO2e in the week ended April 7 on fewer trading days, according to the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, or SEEE.

The daily weighted average CEA price dropped by a marginal 1.1% to Yuan 55.40/mtCO2e ($8.02/mtCO2e) on April 7, SEEE data showed.

CEA market activity dropped substantially from the previous week during a four-day trading week shortened by the Qingming Holiday, and block trades accounted for over 97% of the total volume, slightly above its historic medium, MetaVerse Green Exchange or MVGX, a Singapore-based carbon trading platform, said in its weekly China report.

"Open market transaction prices lowered markedly," MVGX said, adding that while the closing price for the week fell by 1.1% from the previous week, the volume-weighted price for the week dropped to Yuan 50.63/mtCO2e ($7.35/mtCO2e), which was 10% lower than the previous week, and its lowest since late December 2021.

Block trades, which accounted for the vast majority of the total volume, averaged Yuan 56.10/mt, recovering from a multimonth low in the previous week, MVGX said. It said supported by the price recovery of block trades, the volume-weighted price for all of the week's trades was Yuan 55.96/mt ($8.13/mt), 11.5% higher than the previous week.

The CEA price and volume data are published daily by SEEE, which hosts the online trading platform of the national compliance market. It does not provide information on bids, offers or counterparties.

Meanwhile, activity across the nine regional China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER) markets declined for the third week in a row, ending the week with a combined weekly volume of 61,998 mt, MVGX said.

The CCER scheme covers the voluntary carbon market in China.

MVGX said CCER market activity was driven largely by Tianjin that accounted for nearly 60% of the combined volume, while the Sichuan and Shenzhen markets fluctuated widely and maintained a sizable price premium over CEA prices based on open market transactions.

Meanwhile, a forum was held in Beijing on April 7 to promote China's dual carbon goals and green development.

China has pledged to peak its CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, which conference delegates expect to be the world's biggest cut in carbon emission intensity in the shortest time frame and state-owned enterprises are well positioned to take the lead, according to state media China Daily.

TABLE 1: China's compliance carbon market weekly prices and trade volumes

TABLE 2: China's compliance carbon market prices and volumes

Source: Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange