Development of Common Market
A regular conference has been inaugurated to discuss the integration of cap-and-trade systems among three countries -- Korea, China and Japan. The three will hold the first conference in Bejiing, China and will take turns beginning next year. It is highly likely that the second conference will be held in Korea next year.
According to Korean government officials on September 11, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance will hold an information exchange platform for the Korean, Chinese and Japanese cap-and-trade systems at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China for three days from September 12.
The conference ultimately aims at integrating the three countries’ emissions trading markets. This means the conference follows the EU System which has been taking the lead in the GHG emissions market. The EU integrated and is running GHG emissions trading systems of 31 countries – 27 EU member countries and four non-member countries such as Norway and Iceland. Emissions credits are trade at the same prices anywhere in 31 countries. “The conference begins to integrate Asian emissions credits,” said a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
The creation of the conference was led by China. “China is taking the lead in integrating emissions trading markets such as ratifying the Paris Agreement last week in earnest,” said an official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance,” another official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. “As Korea is ahead of China in the emission trading system, we will lead the way.”
At the moment, China is running the emissions trading system in eight tentative regions. Japan has not yet introduced the system on a full scale. Only four areas are putting the system into operation on their own. On the other hand, Korea has been running emission trading markets across the nation after opening them in January of last year after designating the Korea Exchange as an emissions trading place. Moreover, Korea has been negotiating with the EU in order to use the EU emissions market since July.