China starts public consultation on emissions accounting and verification guidelines

China is carrying out a public consultation on drafting guidelines regarding emissions accounting and verification for the country’s cement sector until 15 April 2024. This would lay the foundation for the sector’s inclusion in the national compliance carbon market, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The consultation document only provides instructions for companies how to calculate and report their emissions and for provincial governments to carry out verifications. It provides no information on the methodology to allocate compliance emissions allowances (CEAs) to cement producers, according to S&P. 

China’s cement sector is responsible for ~1.35bnta of CO₂ emissions, or 13 per cent of the country’s total CO₂ emissions, according to data from the China Cement Association. The compliance market is expected to cover clinker producers that have annual greenhouse emissions of more than 26,000t of CO₂e. Cement producers are required to report direct emissions from fossil fuel combustion and clinker production. In addition, they are expected to report the indirect emissions from power consumption but are allowed to report ‘zero emissions’ from power consumption if they use captive non-fossil generation plant or purchase renewable energy through power purchase agreements.