China’s Carbon Market Expands Into Heavy Industry As USA Regresses - CleanTechnica

China’s national carbon market is expanding significantly as the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has extended mandatory carbon reporting to additional heavy industries, including petrochemicals, chemicals, flat glass, copper smelting, papermaking, and civil aviation. While this expansion does not immediately impose carbon pricing on these sectors, it establishes the necessary administrative framework to do so in the future. This move reflects China’s iterative and staged approach to climate policy, transitioning its emissions trading system (ETS) from pilot programs to a broad macroeconomic tool. Currently, China’s ETS directly covers four major sectors—power generation, steel, cement, and aluminum—which together account for approximately 60% to 65% of the country’s total carbon emissions (around 9,000 to 11,000 million tons of CO2 annually out of 15,000 to 16,000 million tons nationally). The carbon price in China’s ETS has remained relatively modest, typically between $8 and $13 per ton, serving more as