Research On Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Trading System Of Thermal Power Industry In Shanxi Province

The traditional development model of high consumption and high contamination has caused heavy emissions of main pollutants such as SO2. Most of the pillar industries are heavy industries based on coal in Shanxi province, which caused serious pollution problem and unreasonable environmental resource distribution. The thermal power industry is the main contributor to Sulfur dioxide emissions accounting for about66.57%of the total. At the final phase of the12th Five-Year Plan, the installed capacity of thermal power unites will increase to about74.4million kW, while the State requires the province to reduce11.3%of SO2emissions. For resolving the conflicts between thermal power industry development and SO2emission reduction, considering the limitation of traditional environmental management system and drawing experiences from developed countries, environmental management of thermal power industry in Shanxi province need to introduce new policy instruments, that is Emissions Trading, to further control environmental pollution and realize social transformation and great-leap-forward development.Based on the deep analysis of domestic and foreign research, related policies and practice model of emission trading, this research determines six key parts in the design of emission trading system including total accounting methods, initial allocation of permits, trading mode, price subsystem, management platform and supervision system. Combined with reality conditions and development needs of thermal power industry in Shanxi province, and based on the management of existing environmental protection departments, a management mode and policy system of SO2emissions trading was designed in the whole province, which provides theory basis and technical support for the establishment of emissions trading market in the province, and offers some demonstrations and references for the building of orderly emissions trading market in our country. Firstly, the present capacity total quantity of SO2in the province was analyzed, and the initial emissions rights of118thermal power enterprises and267power units were allocated by generating performance standards; secondly, the application of different trading modes in the province were analyzed comprehensively; thirdly, effective price subsystem was established including initial allocation price, benchmark price, government reserve price, transaction management fee and transaction period; finally, the framework, index allocation process and transaction process for emissions trading management platform of the province were designed, and supervision system of emissions trading in the province was put forwards.The research results show that it is severe for SO2emissions reduction of thermal power industry in Shanxi province, while emissions trading has huge market potential; the design of a set of complete system is important for implementing emissions trading in Shanxi province and promoting the work of emission reduction; in the design of the system, it is adoptable to use the method of target total content to determine the total amount of emissions rights for thermal power industry in Shanxi province; mixed distribution method was adopted for initial allocation, including free allocation which is the first choice, taking pricing sale as a supplement, and making a public auction when necessary; it is adoptable to use generating performance standards to allocate emissions permits for thermal power units in Shanxi province; it is good to promote the effective functioning of market by adopting ERCs mode at the beginning of a trade and intentionally exploring EA mode later; in the price subsystem, benchmark price was1600yuan/t·a according the average treatment cost of sulfur dioxide, and the trade period is ten years; the idea of manager-oriented and trader-oriented shall be reflected in the management platform of emissions trading of Shanxi province; in the supervision system, the government should supervise the market to ensure it functioning healthily, besides formulating related policies and establishing related laws with the legislature.