Abstract:
Designing key market mechanisms, including renewable portfolio standards, green certificates, green power trading, emissions trading systems, and energy quota trading, is crucial for reducing emissions from the electricity sector to achieve the carbon peaking and neutrality target in China. Operation rules of corresponding tradeable emissions reduction certificates play a vital role in streamlining the resource allocation of these mechanisms. This paper first reviews the background and progress of these mechanisms and discusses the prices, market sizes, and key features of corresponding certificates. We further propose and evaluate the integration schemes for these certificates based on their characteristics and trends in the electricity sector. Policy recommendations on merging renewable electricity certificates, incorporating green power purchase into the carbon emissions trading system, promoting the use of certificates in evaluating local governments and firms, and the transformation from controlling energy consumption to carbon emissions are provided. This paper can help researchers and practitioners to understand and analyze this issue.