Carbon emission quota trading is a means to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using market mechanism, and also an important way to implement China's carbon peak target and carbon neutral vision. However, some people take aim at the incomplete regulation of carbon emission quota trading rules, defy the law and engage in duty encroachment. This not only damages the interests of the company, but also disrupts the order of the carbon emissions trading market. Today's "Procuratorial Story" focuses on the first criminal case of embezzlement of enterprise property by the People's Procuratorate of Datian County, Sanming City, by means of "carbon emission quota trading". In May
2024, the People's Procuratorate of Datian County prosecuted two criminal suspect, Zhang Mou and Feng Mou, who illegally traded carbon emission quotas . It is the first criminal case in Sanming City to use "carbon emission quota trading" as a means to punish and fine the defendant Zhang Mou and Feng Mou for the crime of duty embezzlement.
The defendant, Zhang Mou, is the environmental protection commissioner of a cement company in Datian County (hereinafter referred to as "Cement Company"), who is responsible for keeping the carbon emission quota trading account opened by the company in the Straits Equity Exchange Center. From December 2021 to November 2023, the defendant Zhang Mou took advantage of his position and conspired with the defendant Feng Mou-mou and others to trade more than 180000 tons of carbon emission quotas with Feng Mou-mou and others on the platform of the Straits Equity Exchange Center without the authorization of the company. The total amount of cash is RMB 2277285.59 yuan . In November
2023, the general manager of the cement company found that the carbon emission quota in the company's account was not enough to fulfill the abnormal phenomenon. Zhang Mou, the environmental protection commissioner, saw that the matter was exposed, and voluntarily confessed his criminal facts of selling carbon emission quota by taking advantage of his position. Zhang Zhengchi, director of the Second Procuratorial Department of the People's Procuratorate
of Datian County and a first-level prosecutor, said that
the cement company had a trading account in the Straits Equity Exchange Center, which was used for the trading of carbon emission quotas. The account was just handed over to him (Zhang) for safekeeping, which also gave Zhang a chance. Suspect Feng Mou has been engaged in this carbon emissions trading for several years, and has also opened an account in the Straits Equity Exchange Center for the purpose of trading carbon emissions. The two men colluded with each other. In February
2024, the People's Procuratorate of Datian County accepted the case of Zhang Mou and Feng Mou suspected of duty embezzlement. According to the case handling team, the cement company purchased more than 180000 tons of carbon emission quotas at 28 yuan per ton and paid more than 5.34 million yuan in total in order to complete the performance to the government's ecological environment authorities in the later period. At present, the property attribute and income mode of carbon emission quota are not clear, and the trading rules are not completely standardized. How to determine the amount of crime? While communicating with the public security organs in depth and specifying specific supplementary investigation matters, the procuratorial organs should do a good job of supplementary investigation at the same time, by consulting the trading rules of the Straits Equity Exchange Center, the normative documents such as the Measures for the Management of Carbon Emission Trading (Trial Implementation) of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and visiting the injured enterprises, etc. It belongs to the intangible assets of the enterprise. And then determine the actual loss of the company to determine the amount of crime. Zhang Zhengchi, director of the Second Procuratorial Department of the People's Procuratorate
of Datian County and a first-level prosecutor:
We believe that the carbon emission quota is actually a thing born by the national ecological environment authorities in order to promote this kind of energy conservation and emission reduction, so it is essentially a carbon emission right. As far as the setting of this rule is concerned, we calculate the illegal income based on the carbon emission quota purchased by the enterprise in order to fulfill the contract and the unit price at that time, so the final amount involved in the case is more than 5.34 million yuan. During the period of
examination and prosecution, the undertaking team did a good job of interpretation and reasoning at the same time, and paid attention to the need to recover stolen goods and losses. Before the judgment of the first instance, the People's Procuratorate of Datian County recovered more than 790000 yuan of losses for enterprises. The two defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty in the first instance judgment, and did not appeal after the first instance judgment. In January 2025, the case was selected as an excellent case of Fujian Provincial People's Procuratorate. Wu Lianjun, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the People's Procuratorate
of Datian County and Deputy Procurator-General in charge of daily work, said that
in the next step, the Procuratorate of Datian County will firmly establish the awareness of "handling quality cases" and handle cases involving enterprises in accordance with the law. We should adhere to the concept of daring to supervise, being good at supervising and daring to self-supervise, and escort enterprises with high-quality and efficient procuratorial performance.
