The Beijing municipal government will add 120 companies to its emissions trading scheme from 2014, bringing in sectors like public transport in a bid to strengthen control over the city’s rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions.
The capital is one of seven cities and provinces in China that have launched pilot carbon markets ahead of a national scheme within 2020, as the world’s biggest-emitting nation seeks to limit its impact on global warming.
The Beijing scheme was launched last year, covering 490 companies in the power, heating and manufacturing sectors, as well as some public buildings.
A further 120 companies will be brought in from 2014, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Corp. and Beijing MTR Corp., which run the Beijing subway, and Beijing Capital International Airport Co. are among the new scheme participants, the document showed.
The list also included China Development Bank and China Everbright Bank.
A number of smaller emitters, such as universities and data centres were also added.
They will be given permits to cover their expected emissions for 2014, but if they exceed that level they must buy extra permits in the market.
The new entrants will be handed their 2014 permits in September, but the government did not reveal how many they would get.
Carbon trading is the centrepiece of the government’s policy to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, most of the pilot markets handed out too many permits last year, raising questions over how effective their design is.
