Markets and prices · China

China's national ETS closed August 2026 at CNY 97.90 per tonne, up 31.18% on end-2025, MEE report shows

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment released its 2026 national carbon market report on 15 September 2026.

Allowance trading in January-August 2026 rose 46.53% in volume and 67.64% in value from a year earlier, and the end-August close was CNY 97.90 per tonne.

Cumulative allowance trading reached 961 Mt worth CNY 65.699 billion by the end of August 2026.

15 Sep 2026Markets and pricesChinaPublished 12 Nov 2026
Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, seen across the Huangpu River (Shanghai hosts China's national carbon exchange)
Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, seen across the Huangpu River (Shanghai hosts China's national carbon exchange). Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0, source. Resized only; no other change.
Report

What happened

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) published the National Carbon Market Development Report (2026) at a carbon market conference on 15 September 2026 and posted Chinese and English versions on its website on 20 September. The report updates trading, price and compliance data for the national ETS and the CCER voluntary market to the end of August 2026.

On trading, the report puts 2025 allowance volume at 235 Mt, up 24.36% on 2024 and the highest annual figure since the market opened, with value of CNY 14.630 billion. Trading was spread more evenly across the year: 98.09 Mt changed hands in the first three quarters of 2025, or 42% of the annual total, 21 percentage points more than a year earlier. Volume and value then rose 46.53% and 67.64% year on year in January-August 2026.

On prices, the report describes a fall after covered entities sold surplus allowances in 2025, with closes ranging between CNY 57 and CNY 98 per tonne, followed by a recovery in the fourth quarter. The December 2025 average traded price was CNY 65.43, above the full-year average of CNY 62.36. By the end of August 2026 the composite close stood at CNY 97.90, 31.18% above the end-2025 level.

The report also reports results for the one-way auction method introduced in July 2025: 9 sessions by the end of August 2026, 0.338 Mt traded, CNY 19.7053 million in value and 29 participating companies. For compliance with 2024 emissions, 8.194 Gt of allowances were due and about 99.99% were surrendered; one of 2,087 power entities missed full surrender on time, and all 1,291 steel, cement and aluminium entities complied. In the CCER market, 41 projects and 24.2335 Mt of credits had been registered by the end of August 2026, with an average traded price of CNY 86.51 per tonne.

Context

Background

The ETS opened for online trading on 16 July 2021 with the power sector only. The first compliance cycle, to the end of 2021, traded 179 Mt worth CNY 7.661 billion and closed at CNY 54.22 per tonne. The MEE's 2024 report puts trading in the second cycle, from January 2022 to December 2023, at 263 Mt worth CNY 17.258 billion, an average of about CNY 65.62 per tonne by our calculation, with the end-2023 close at CNY 79.42. MEE year-end notices then record 189 Mt traded in 2024 and closes of CNY 97.49 at the end of 2024 and CNY 74.63 at the end of 2025.

Cumulative allowance trading, as reported by the MEE, rose from 442 Mt at the end of 2023 to 630 Mt a year later, 865 Mt at the end of 2025 and 961 Mt by the end of August 2026.

Coverage expanded in 2025 when steel, cement and aluminium joined, lifting the number of covered entities to 3,378. For 2026 the MEE counts 3,680 entities and about 8.3 GtCO2, more than 65% of national emissions. Allocation remains free and intensity-based, so supply moves with output rather than with a fixed cap.

Data

How it compares

Latest government-published carbon price points in Asia (local currency, not converted)

Mt03757501,1251,500End-2021End-2023End-2024End-2025Aug 2026179442630865961

Source: Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE); Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE), published on korea.kr; METI; Singapore Statutes Online, Attorney-General's Chambers; Ministry of Environment (MOENV). Checked 2026-11-12. All figures come from government publications and are shown in each scheme's own currency without conversion. The Korean figure is a ministry description of the market level, and the Japanese figures are policy reference prices, not traded prices.

Table of the same figures
SchemePrice pointDateType
China national ETSCNY 97.90/tEnd-August 2026Composite close reported by the MEE
Korea K-ETSKRW 30,000 range/tAs of 20 August 2026 (release of 20 September 2026)Price level stated by the climate ministry (MCEE)
Japan GX-ETSJPY 1,700-4,300/tFY2026Government floor and ceiling reference prices
Singapore carbon taxS$45/tCO2eFrom emissions year 2026Fixed tax rate
Taiwan carbon feeNT$300/tCO2eFrom 1 January 2025General fee rate
Ahead

What is next

No further dates are set in the official texts we checked.

Record

Sources

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