First zero-carbon certificate issued in China

China's first zero-carbon energy consumption certificate was issued on Friday, according to one of the publishers, the Biomass Energy Industry Promotion Association.

The certificate was purchased by a hydrogen energy company based in Central China's Henan province. Zhang Dayong, secretary-general of the association, said such a trade signified a milestone in the marketization of green value for non-electrical renewable energy in China, particularly in the sector of non-electrical utilization of biomass.

The entire process, including certificate application, monitoring, verification, issuance and trade, was completed through the Zero Carbon Energy Certification platform that was established in December 2023. The platform was a collaborative effort of the BEIPA, the Green and Low Carbon Technical Committee of China Energy Research Society, and an institute called Beijing Songshan Low Carbon Technology Research.

Zhang highlighted that the market price of zero-carbon energy certificates is aligned with China's carbon trading market, using the latter as a benchmark while taking into account market supply-demand dynamics to establish a relatively stable price adjustment mechanism.

The certificate is currently priced at 60 yuan ($8) per piece, according to the BEIPA.