China's much-heralded Emissions Trading Scheme is already the world's biggest, regulating around 4.5 billion tonnes of annual CO2 output from the power industry. Nearly 200 million tonnes of carbon changed hands in the first year of operations at a total value of 8.5 billion yuan .
Though environmental gains have been limited so far, China's cautious approach was designed to gain experience and iron out any potential problems without overburdening its enterprises. "It was a good move by the regulator," said He. "But I'm afraid the penalties for such malpractices... are too small to intimidate. I hope and expect that to change with new legislation to be adopted in the near future."
Nothing short of export controls on oil & coal will induce the Asian governments to begin a serious transition to renewables. Canada can begin by limiting how much coal and heavy crude it exports to China. Other fossil fuel producers should do the same.