Chinese offset scheme one year after re-launch: no credits yet, but first issuance imminent

Though China’s national offset scheme – the China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) program, was officially relaunched after seven years of dormancy in late January 2024, no fresh credits have been issued so far: efforts to increase integrity, with strict standards for what can generate offsets and how, made for a thorough – and therefore slow – process toward credit issuance. However, a handful of projects is currently in the final stages, meaning we can expect the first batch of new offset credits – from projects involving solar thermal and offshore wind power – to be released by the end of Q1 or the beginning of Q2 at the latest. The volumes will be small though, and thus their effect on the market balance of China’s national ETS will be minimal.