On April 14, the Kunming Area of China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Kunming Economic and Technological Development Zone) issued the first “Green Power Certificate” for LONGI Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in China, marking a breakthrough in the “carbon footprint verification” of power enterprises. It is a significant step forward in guiding enterprises to achieve the goal of carbon peak and neutrality and meet the international standards to enter the overseas market.

The Green Power Certificate refers to the certificate that enterprises used by to purchase and use green electricity. According to statistics, every 1 megawatt of green electricity can reduce 838 kilograms of CO2 emissions. The issuance of the Green Power Certificate is of great importance for improving the quality of green power consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing down global warming. To achieve the goal of carbon peak and neutrality, China needs to increase the proportion of green electricity consumption to 40% by 2030, and encourage enterprises to buy and consume green electricity.

According to reports, the electricity market users registered in the Kunming Power Exchange Center can alternatively choose to purchase green energy generation or traditional fossil energy generation, and sign power transaction contracts with different types of power generation enterprises. On the basis of these contracts and market-based transaction electricity bills, the automatic issuance of the Green Power Certificate can be realized by calculating the source of each kilowatt hour of electricity, and the proportion of green energy in the electricity consumption of the enterprise.

At present, the national carbon emission trading market has been officially launched. Those enterprises who have the Green Power Certificates can sell their carbon emission quota in the market after being recognized by the environmental protection department. Meanwhile, as Europe uses the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to impose a carbon border tax on products that do not meet the EU’s low carbon emission standards, the low-carbon products with the Green Power Certificates can be exempted from the taxes after being certified in accordance with the EU’s carbon footprint standards.

The Green Power Certificate is not only an important basis for the domestic carbon emission verification of enterprises, but also an important link for export products in the international carbon footprint certification. The General Plan of China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has proposed to “promote the construction of carbon emission trading resource reserve”, and the issuance of Green Power Certificate lays a solid foundation for the implementation of the pilot task.

The Kunming Area will try to win the support of all provincial and municipal parties, formulate the schedule and road map of carbon peak and neutrality, and accelerate the institutional innovation in the field of carbon emission rights, focusing on energy and electricity, modern logistics, building materials, ecological and environmental protection, carbon emission trading and other fields, to contribute to the green economy, low-carbon economy and circular economy in China’s pilot free trade zones.

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(Editors: Christine, Alison)