China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment has opened a public consultation on four new proposed methodologies for its national voluntary carbon market, with a particular emphasis on oilfield gas recovery and biomass power generation projects.
These new approaches are designed to help curb emissions in the energy sector and align with China’s broader goals of achieving carbon neutrality.
The draft methodologies under consideration include: power generation and cogeneration using agricultural and forestry biomass connected to the grid; recovery and use of associated gas from offshore oilfields; utilisation of test gas released during onshore gas field operations; and recovery of low-volume associated gas from onshore oilfields.
If adopted, these methodologies would become part of China’s Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) programme, which facilitates the trading of carbon credits from voluntary emission reduction projects.
The move comes as China restarts its CCER market after a six-year suspension, with authorities aiming to expand the programme and boost the availability of carbon credits.
The Ministry is encouraging public feedback to ensure the methodologies are practical, aligned with current green technologies, and easy to evaluate and verify.
These proposed methodologies focus on emission avoidance, reduction, and removal initiatives. They do not apply to sectors already subject to mandatory emission reduction requirements.
China has committed to peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. The CCER scheme plays a key role in supporting those targets.
