An ex-ante performance evaluation of the Chinese Emissions Trading Scheme

This thesis evaluates the potential effectiveness of the Chinese Emissions Trading Scheme (CETS) in contributing to climate mitigation. The key criteria for a successful ETS is a strong political will from a government to impose a high carbon price on greenhouse gas emissions. Given that the current priority of the Chinese government is to protect the cost-competitiveness of Chinese enterprises, the government has not designed the CETS in accordance with carbon-pricing principles recommended by the OECD and the World Bank. As such, the thesis argues that the CETS is expected to have a limited impact on contributing to climate mitigation.