On March 29, the closing price of the carbon market further climbed to 90.66 yuan/ton, reaching a new high again. It is understood that since the launch of the national carbon emissions trading market in July 2021, the carbon price has been hovering at 40-50 yuan/ton, and the carbon price has doubled in just over two years. The
carbon price has exceeded 90 yuan/ton for the first time, which means that the cost of carbon emissions in the national carbon market is increasing significantly. Although the cement industry has not yet been included in the carbon trading system, Lu Shize, deputy director of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, recently proposed that the next step for China's carbon market is to steadily expand the coverage of the national carbon emissions trading market.
Lu Shize said that the next step is to give priority to key industries with large carbon emissions, serious overcapacity, good synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and good data quality foundation. According to the principle of "mature one, cover one", more industries are gradually included to expand the scale of emissions covered by the market. We will strive to achieve the first expansion of the national carbon emissions trading market as soon as possible, and issue new quota allocation schemes and accounting and verification guidelines for the industry.
Beijing University of Technology released the report "China Carbon Market Review and Optimal Industry Inclusion Order Outlook (2023)", pointing out that the priority order of industry inclusion in the next stage of expanding the coverage of the national carbon market is: cement manufacturing, steelmaking, flat glass manufacturing, etc. As a major carbon emitter, it is only a matter of time before
cement is included in the carbon trading market. With the continuous rise of carbon price, if cement enterprises fail to reduce carbon emissions through technological transformation or energy-saving measures to meet the quota requirements, they need to buy additional carbon emission rights in the market, which will directly increase production costs. In the quota issuance, the free quota will continue to tighten. If enterprises do not pay attention to carbon reduction, so that they need to buy carbon indicators from the carbon trading market, their competitiveness will be reduced. So in the current situation of sharp decline in profits in the cement industry, we will face the harsh reality of whether we can survive. Fortunately
, under the requirement of double carbon target, many cement enterprises have begun to advance the layout to cope with the trend of energy saving and carbon reduction. For example, use renewable energy to replace fossil fuels, such as wind and solar energy; reduce carbon emissions in cement production by recycling and reusing waste; use alternative fuels to pursue lower production costs and reduce carbon emissions.
Generally speaking, the carbon price exceeding 90 yuan/ton is a strong signal for the cement industry, reminding enterprises to incorporate carbon emission reduction and green development into their long-term strategic planning, and to achieve sustainable development through technological innovation and management mode reform. At the same time, it is also necessary to use market-oriented mechanisms such as the carbon trading market to defuse carbon cost pressures through financial means and explore potential green economic growth points.
