Climate Policy Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment

The Beijing Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) reduced CO2 emissions by 4.87 MtCO2 cumulatively between 2013 and 2015, contributing to an earlier emissions peak for the city. The majority of these reductions (98% of power-related cuts) were driven by demand-end management, where companies reduced electricity consumption to meet emission caps, while reductions from power plants within Beijing were negligible. Carbon offsets had no observable impact on allowance prices in the 2014 cycle due to limited supply, particularly of Beijing-originated offsets. The study suggests that a future national ETS should consider including indirect emissions from electricity consumption and implement more stringent caps on direct electricity production to be effective.

• The Beijing ETS achieved cumulative CO2 emission reductions of 4.87 MtCO2 over three years, with annual reductions of 0.41 MtCO2 in 2013, 1.56 MtCO2 in 2014, and 2.90 MtCO2 in 2015. These reductions reversed a trend of increasing emissions under the baseline scenario, helping Beijing reach an earlier emissions peak.
• Power-related CO2 reductions accounted for 45% (2.18 MtCO2) of the total reductions. The vast majority of these (98% or 2.13 MtCO2) resulted from demand-end management by companies using less electricity, whereas reductions from power plants located inside Beijing were negligible at only 50,000 tCO2.
• Carbon offsets did not affect allowance prices during the 2014 compliance cycle because of a limited supply of credits, especially those originating within Beijing. In the 2013 compliance cycle, no certified carbon offsets entered the ETS, while the average allowance price was Y 60.4 per metric ton of CO2.
• The study suggests that a national ETS should include indirect emissions from electricity consumption in allowance allocations, as this drove significant reductions in Beijing. It also notes that if a national ETS caps direct emissions from electricity production, those caps must be stringent to be effective.

APA

World Resources Institute (2014). Climate Policy Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment. https://www.wri.org/research/climate-policy-greenhouse-gas-impact-assessment

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Climate Policy Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment. 2014. https://www.wri.org/research/climate-policy-greenhouse-gas-impact-assessment.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Climate Policy Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment |date=2014 |url=https://www.wri.org/research/climate-policy-greenhouse-gas-impact-assessment |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2014climate, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Climate Policy Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2014}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/climate-policy-greenhouse-gas-impact-assessment}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }