Climate Policy Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment

This World Resources Institute working paper assesses the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction impact and implementation of the Beijing Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) between 2013 and 2015. Using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Policy and Action Standard and the Climate Policy Implementation Tracking Framework, the study finds that the ETS contributed to an earlier emissions peak for Beijing, primarily driven by reductions in electricity demand rather than improvements in power production.

• The Beijing ETS reduced CO2 emissions by 0.41 megatonnes (MtCO2) in 2013, 1.56 MtCO2 in 2014, and 2.90 MtCO2 in 2015, totaling 4.87 MtCO2 over the three-year period. These reductions represented 0.60%, 2.25%, and 4.19% of the baseline scenario emissions for those respective years, reversing a trend of increasing emissions and contributing to an earlier emissions peak for Beijing.
• Power-related CO2 emission 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, where companies used less electricity to meet their caps. In contrast, reductions from power plants within Beijing were negligible, totaling only 50,000 tCO2, due to lenient CO2 caps based on historical intensities and existing tight regulations.
• Carbon offsets had no observable impact on allowance prices during the 2014 compliance cycle because of a limited supply of certified credits, particularly those originating within Beijing. While the scheme allows offsets to cover up to 5% of a company's total allowances (with at least 50% originating in Beijing), the actual number of offsets entering the market was lower than the theoretical capacity of 3.31 to 3.41 MtCO2 per year.
• The study suggests that a future national ETS in China should consider including indirect emissions from electricity consumption, as this drove significant reductions in Beijing. However, it notes that unlike Beijing, China as a whole does not import significant electricity, meaning a national scheme would need a different accounting arrangement to avoid double counting if it covers both production and consumption.

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} }