Green Electricity Is Moving into the Operating Model
New trading data show scale, but the harder corporate question is whether green power can be matched, traced and delivered in a form that changes production decisions.
In Focus
Carbon & accounting
Emissions measurement and carbon markets, from company records and product data to electricity use and climate claims.
In This Section
Latest Analysis
CarbonCover story
China’s Carbon Market Has Entered Its Allocation Test
The national ETS is no longer defined only by expansion. This week’s allocation notices put the operational burden—data, allowances, verification and investment choices—at the center of the transition.
Carbon · DisclosureCommentary
Environmental Compliance Is Moving from Campaign to Capacity
China Briefing's review of environmental compliance trends shows that the next ESG constraint is institutional capacity. The analysis points to an around 30 Mt CO2e emissions-reduction-capacity target through non-CO2 measures during the 15th…
CarbonCover story
China's 15th Five-Year Carbon Plan Makes 2030 a Management Problem
The most important China ESG event this week was the release of the State Council's action plan for carbon peaking during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Xinhua's report was short, but the numbers and timing are not. By 2030, China says carbon…
CarbonCover story
China Moves Carbon Peaking into the 15th Five-Year Plan Machinery
China's most important ESG signal this week was not a new technology announcement or another clean-capacity headline. It was procedural, but consequential: the State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang reviewed and approved an…
China’s Next ESG Test Is Industrial Decarbonization, Not Another Capacity Race
China’s climate-finance story this week moved from the power sector into the factory gate. On Jun 15, Chinese state media reported a new three-year drive to cut energy use and carbon emissions in key industries. The indexed policy coverage…
Trade & supply · CarbonCommentary
CBAM Is Turning China’s Industrial Carbon Data into a Trade Issue
Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is becoming part of China’s ESG story because it turns industrial emissions into a trade cost. On Jun 16, CSIS published analysis of China’s response to CBAM. Its indexed summary notes that under…
Carbon · DisclosureCommentary
Green-Power Claims Are Becoming a Data-Governance Problem
The week’s power-system signals point to a broader ESG problem: green-power claims are becoming a data-governance issue. Reuters highlighted the changing role of coal as China’s green-energy drive advances. The CSEE forum highlighted curtailment,…
China’s Green-Power Accounting Rule Turns Certificates into Industrial Infrastructure
Focus event: on June 1, five Chinese agencies issued a trial guide for non-fossil energy electricity-consumption accounting, linking green-power transactions, green-certificate cancellation and 2026-and-later consumption statistics.
Carbon · DisclosureCommentary
China’s Green-Certificate Market Is Becoming Too Large for Loose Claims
Focus event: on June 2, the National Energy Administration published April 2026 renewable-energy green certificate issuance and trading data.
Energy Conservation Week Is a Small Signal of a Bigger Carbon-Control Shift
Focus event: The NDRC and Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that 2026 National Energy Conservation Week will run from June 15 to 21, with Low-Carbon Day on June 17 and a focus on carbon dual-control work in the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Green Certificates Are Becoming Carbon-Accounting Infrastructure
Focus event: At the April 27 NEA briefing, officials said they would improve green-certificate pricing, study a price index and clarify how green certificates enter carbon dual-control and carbon accounting.
Carbon · DisclosureCommentary
China’s ESG Reports Are Starting to Reveal the Scope 3 Problem
Focus event: The April 30 ESG reporting-season analysis highlighted supply-chain emissions in the storage sector, including an estimate that CATL’s supply-chain emissions were more than five times its core operational emissions.
Carbon · DisclosureCover story
China’s Carbon Scoreboard Moves from Slogan to Management Control
Focus event: the Party and State Council offices issued assessment measures for carbon peaking and neutrality performance.
Energy-Saving Rules Are Becoming Industrial Policy by Another Name
Focus event: China released a guideline on higher-level, higher-quality energy conservation and carbon reduction.
Carbon Finance Moves Closer to the Compliance Machine
Focus event: the State Council service-sector opinion called for carbon-rights collateral finance, financial-institution participation in carbon-market trading, carbon insurance and carbon-neutrality bonds.
Trade & supply · CarbonCommentary
CBAM Turns Carbon Data into Trade Documentation
Focus event: the European Commission’s active CBAM materials now show the 2026 definitive regime, the 50-tonne threshold and the first quarterly certificate price table.
Disclosure · CarbonCover story
From Headline Volume to Evidence Quality: Reading China ESG in Week 16
If you looked for a blockbuster China ESG policy headline last week, you could easily conclude that not much happened. That conclusion would be wrong. Week 16 was not a no-signal week; it was a different-signal week. The center of gravity moved…
CarbonCommentary
ICAP 2026 Status Report: The Global Carbon Baseline Is Moving Up
ICAP’s 2026 status report, released on April 14, is the strongest hard-number event of the week. The report states that 41 emissions trading systems are currently in force, covering 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that ETS revenues…
Trade & supply · CarbonCommentary
CBAM in Practice: Procedural Readiness Now Matters More Than Policy Awareness
The EU’s CBAM page now reads less like a policy primer and more like an implementation portal. It reiterates that the definitive regime started from 1 January 2026 and specifies practical mechanisms: importers above the 50-tonne threshold must…