Strengthening the connection between China's green certificate and international organizations 'green power consumption and carbon emission reduction systems will effectively promote global energy transformation and promote the healthy development of the global renewable energy market.

▲ The picture shows the leading power station in the upper reaches of the Yellow River-Longyangxia Hydropower Station in Qinghai.

With green certificates becoming a key factor in global trade, providing low-carbon products and standardized data has become a new proposition for enterprises.

The "2024 Energy Work Guidance" recently issued by the National Energy Administration proposes to strengthen the connection and international recognition of green certificates with the domestic carbon market. An interview with a reporter from China Energy News learned that in order to further enhance the influence of China's green certificate, relevant departments are actively communicating with climate organizations such as RE100 (100% Utilization of Renewable Energy) to promote the unconditional recognition of China's green certificate internationally.

In the view of industry experts, strengthening the connection between China's green certificates and international organizations 'green power consumption and carbon emission reduction systems will effectively promote global energy transformation and promote the healthy development of the global renewable energy market. It should be noted that in addition to improving details such as the technical verification mechanism and unit life, it is also important to enhance the international community's correct understanding of China's green certificates.

International mutual recognition demands are urgent

The "Notice on Full Coverage of Renewable Energy Green Power Certificates to Promote Renewable Energy Power Consumption" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Energy Administration in July 2023 clearly states that green certificates are the environmental attributes of China's renewable energy electricity. The only proof is the only proof for identifying the production and consumption of renewable energy power.

数据显示，2023年，中国绿证交易数量大幅上涨，仅京津冀绿证成交数量就达200.6万张，同比增加72.2倍。 In terms of green certificate trading volume, China has become the world's largest green certificate trading market and its position in the global green energy market is increasingly important.。

Using green certificates to meet companies 'sustainable development goals and renewable energy consumption needs will help companies reduce carbon emissions and promote the entire supply chain to be greener and more sustainable.

接受采访的企业普遍向《中国能源报》记者表示， Purchasing green certificates will help better "go global" and deeply participate in the global supply chain and lock in more global orders,"calling on China's green certificates to be mutually recognized internationally as soon as possible."。

"At present, companies have strong demands for the internationalization and mutual recognition of green certificates." Zheng Ying, a special expert at the Energy and Environment Center of the Tsinghua Strait Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy News that a type of enterprise faces two domestic and international rule systems. Its main appeal is that the green certificate system can be connected to the carbon market and at the same time International connection. By purchasing green certificates, these companies can pay for the green value of renewable energy, which should be reflected in multiple markets or policy mechanisms to avoid duplicate payments for carbon emissions.

"The other category is companies that mainly face international rules. On the one hand, there are international voluntary rules such as RE100, and on the other hand, there are mandatory rules such as European battery carbon footprints. At present, research has found that companies facing international voluntary rules have the strongest willingness to purchase Chinese green certificates and the clearest demands." Zheng Ying said.

"The demands of the above two types of companies are the same. First, they hope to solve more problems by paying one fee instead of making repeated payments; second, they are to remain competitive in global supply chains and market competition." Zheng Ying said,"According to our long-term research, low-carbon operation and production have become the most important indicators for evaluating companies or their products. Therefore, companies hope that domestic policies and rules can be integrated and mutually recognized with international rules as soon as possible so as to smoothly carry out overseas business."

Details such as write-off need to be resolved urgently

At present, China's green certificate trading system has initially taken shape, and the internationalization of green certificates needs to be further improved at multiple levels such as technology and economy.

"Companies generally hope that after obtaining China's green certificates, these green certificates can be simultaneously adopted in overseas markets." Peng Peng, secretary-general of the China New Energy Power Investment and Financing Alliance, told the China Energy News reporter,"But at present, some countries, regions, and international organizations have not yet reached a consensus on whether companies purchasing green certificates can count as completing green consumption."

In Zheng Ying's view, although the technical design of China's green certificate is no different from other international mainstream green certificate standards, there are indeed some technical details that need to be further clarified. "At the technical level, China's green certificate system has not yet established a verification mechanism, and the definition of environmental attributes is not yet clear. In international use, the two basic elements that green certificates need to meet are traceability and environmental attribute aggregation, and there must be a cancellation action after issuing the certificate to confirm the use of environmental rights."

"In particular, it needs to be pointed out that the definition of environmental attributes is critical. China has made it clear that the green certificate is the only certificate for renewable energy power production and consumption and the certificate for environmental attributes of electricity. However, in actual operation, the definition of environmental attributes is the foundation and key." Zheng Ying explained,"RE100 and others have never believed that green certificates are not traceable. The reason why they cannot unconditionally accept China's green certificates is that the environmental attributes of China's green certificates are not aggregated. When using green certificates, they must purchase corresponding carbon offset rights. In fact, this is a very wrong judgment. International rules such as the Greenhouse Gas Agreement clearly state that the environmental attributes of renewable energy refer to the physical zero-emission characteristics of the unit and do not include carbon offsets. Therefore, carbon offsets are required to be purchased to complete the environmental attributes. Aggregation is not reasonable."

郑颖进一步补充道：“ At present, the definition and use of the environmental attributes of green certificates in China are not yet clear. Therefore, further in-depth technical research is needed on the attribute expression of green certificates and the establishment of a verification mechanism to lay the most important foundation for improving the international use of green certificates. foundation 。”

In addition, in addition to the requirements of the cancellation mechanism, some international rules require requirements for the construction period of units for applying for green certificates, but China's green certificates have not yet marked the unit construction period. "This trend may become the mainstream international recognition of the use of renewable energy power in the future, so China's green certificate still needs to gradually demonstrate and improve the details related to it." Zheng Ying reminded.

Correctly understand China's green certificate

如何加快中国绿证国际化进程？业内人士一致认为，It is urgent to straighten out the green certificate mechanism and clarify the position and goals of the green certificate。

Zheng Ying believes that international organizations have misinterpreted the assessment of China's green certificates, and a large part of the reason comes from lack of understanding. For example, they mistake emission reductions as part of energy attributes, which is actually a deviation in the RE100 's understanding of China's green certificate. Therefore, in the process of continuously improving the design of China's green certificate mechanism, it is necessary to strengthen external publicity to help the outside world correctly understand the mechanism design and use rules of China's green certificate.

In China, the design of the green certificate system is not only a market tool, but also undertakes the responsibilities of a policy tool, such as renewable energy statistics and energy consumption "double control" assessment. Therefore, the improvement and optimization of green certificates must also take into account the goals of policy implementation, so that they can not only meet policy implementation requirements, but also effectively communicate with international rules. To this end, Zheng Ying suggested that when communicating with international institutions, it is necessary to clearly understand the core requirements of different international rules and compare them with China's green certificate mechanism to find out the inconsistencies that really need to be resolved through dialogue. "In dialogue with non-official international organizations, we must give full play to the role of the market and enterprises and leave market problems to be solved in the market."

Peng Peng believes that at present, in order to achieve international connectivity for China's green certificates, the government or official agencies need to negotiate and set a set of recognized recognition standards. For example, it is necessary to clarify whether to purchase green certificates directly or whether to agree by purchasing green electricity and green certificates. "We cannot passively accept international rules, but must safeguard the core principles of China's green certificate system on the basis of mutual respect and consultation, while discussing and adjusting the details."