Definition of carbon finance: using financial capital to drive the improvement of environmental rights and interests, with the support of laws and regulations, using financial means and methods to make related carbon financial products and their derivatives trade or circulate on the market-oriented platform, and finally achieve the goal of low-carbon, green and sustainable development. 1At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992, 150 countries formulated the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The ultimate goal of the convention is to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that does not harm the climate system.
The Framework Convention is the first international convention in the world to comprehensively control the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide to cope with the adverse effects of global warming on human economy and society, and it is also the basic framework for international cooperation in dealing with global climate change. According to statistics, at present, 19 1 countries have ratified the Convention, and these countries are called States parties to the Convention.
Parties to the Convention have made many commitments aimed at solving climate change problems. Each Party must submit a special report on a regular basis, which must contain information about its greenhouse gas emissions and explain the plans and specific measures implemented to implement the Convention.
The Convention came into force in March 1994, which laid a legal foundation for international cooperation on climate change and is an authoritative, universal and comprehensive international framework.
The Convention consists of a preamble and 26 articles. The Convention is legally binding and aims to control the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that cause the "greenhouse effect" in the atmosphere, and stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases at a level that prevents the climate system from being destroyed. The obligations stipulated in the Convention and the procedures for fulfilling these obligations are different between developed and developing countries. The Convention requires developed countries, as major emitters of greenhouse gases, to take concrete measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and provide funds for developing countries to fulfill their obligations under the Convention. The Convention has established a financial mechanism to provide developing countries with capital and technology to enable them to fulfill their obligations under the Convention.
The Convention provides for an annual meeting of States parties. Since the first Conference of the Parties was held in Berlin on March 28th, 1995, the Parties have held meetings every year.
The second to sixth sessions of the Conference of the Parties were held in Geneva, Kyoto, Buenos Aires, Bonn and The Hague. 1997 65438+February 1 1, the third conference of the parties was held in Kyoto, Japan. Representatives from 149 countries and regions adopted the Kyoto Protocol. In the first commitment period of Kyoto Protocol, that is, from 2008 to 20 12, the greenhouse gas emissions of major industrialized countries will be reduced by 5.2% on the basis of 1990, among which the EU will reduce six greenhouse gases by 8%, the United States by 7% and Japan by 6%.
During the Sixth Conference of the Parties held in The Hague from June 5, 2000 to 10, the United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, insisted on drastically reducing emission reduction targets, which brought the meeting to a deadlock, and the organizers of the conference had to announce an adjournment and postpone it to Bonn from July 5 to 10, 38, 2006. 10, the seventh conference of the parties was held in Marrakech, Morocco. In June 2002, the eighth Conference of the Parties was held in New Delhi, India. The Delhi Declaration adopted at the meeting emphasized that the response to climate change must be carried out within the framework of sustainable development. In February 2003, the ninth Conference of the Parties was held in Milan, Italy. The greenhouse gas emissions of these countries and regions account for 60% of the world total. In February 2004, the 10 meeting of the parties was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In June 2005, the 1 1 meeting of the parties was held in Montreal, Canada. In June 2006, the 1 12 meeting of the parties was held in Nairobi, Kenya. From 5 June to 5 February 2007, the 65th Conference of the Parties was held in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting focused on the "post-Kyoto" issue, that is, how to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the expiration of the first commitment period 20 12 of the Kyoto Protocol. On June 5438+05, the United Nations Climate Change Conference produced the "Bali Road Map", which decided to negotiate new arrangements to deal with climate change before 2009. In order to protect mankind from the threat of climate warming, the third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Kyoto, Japan in February. Representatives from 149 countries and regions adopted the Kyoto Protocol aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries to curb global warming. According to the Kyoto Protocol, by 20 10, the emissions of six greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) in all developed countries will be higher than190. Specifically, the emission reduction targets that developed countries must achieve from 2008 to 20 12 are: compared with 1990, the EU will reduce emissions by 8%, the US will reduce emissions by 7%, Japan will reduce emissions by 6%, Canada will reduce emissions by 6%, and Eastern European countries will reduce emissions by 5% to 8%. New Zealand, Russia and Ukraine can stabilize their emissions at the level of 1990. The Protocol also allows Ireland, Australia and Norway to increase their emissions by 65,438+00%, 8% and 65,438+0% respectively compared with 65,438+090.
Kyoto Protocol needs to be ratified by 1990 at least 55 countries and regions that account for more than 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions before it can become a legally binding international convention. China signed and ratified the Protocol in May 2002 1998. The EU and its member states formally ratified the Kyoto Protocol on May 36, 2002. As of August 2005, 13 and 142 countries and regions have signed the Protocol, including 30 industrialized countries, and the population of the ratifying countries accounts for 80% of the world's total population. In June 5438+February 2007, Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol. So far, only the United States has not signed the Kyoto Protocol.
By 2004, the greenhouse gas emissions of major industrialized countries decreased by 3.3% on average on the basis of 1990, but the emissions of the United States, the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, increased by 15.8% compared with 1990. In 200 1 year, at the beginning of his first term, US President George W. Bush announced that the United States had withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol on the grounds that it had brought an excessive burden to the economic development of the United States.
In March, 2007, the leaders of EU member states unanimously agreed to unilaterally promise to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the EU by at least 20% on the basis of 1990 by 2020.
How to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions after 20 12, the so-called "post-Kyoto" problem, is the main topic of the second meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Nairobi. In June 5438+February 65438+May 2007, the United Nations Climate Change Conference produced the Bali Road Map, which set a clear agenda for the key issues of climate change negotiations before 2009.
Kyoto Protocol has established three flexible cooperation mechanisms aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions-International Emissions Trading Mechanism (IET), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation Mechanism (JI). Take the clean development mechanism as an example, it allows investors from industrialized countries to obtain "proven emission reductions" from emission reduction projects implemented by developing countries that are conducive to the sustainable development of developing countries.
On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol came into force. This is the first time in human history to limit greenhouse gas emissions in the form of laws and regulations. In order to promote countries to achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, the Protocol allows the following four ways to reduce emissions:
1. Two developed countries can buy and sell the "emission trading" of emission quotas, that is, countries that are difficult to complete emission reduction tasks can spend money to buy excess quotas from countries that have exceeded their tasks.
Second, greenhouse gas emissions are calculated by "net emissions", that is, the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by forests is deducted from the actual national emissions.
Third, developed and developing countries can be urged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the green development mechanism.
Fourth, the "group approach" can be adopted, that is, many countries within the EU can be regarded as a whole, some countries reduce emissions and some countries increase emissions, thus completing the task of reducing emissions as a whole. Under the framework of Kyoto Protocol, International Emissions Trading Mechanism (IET), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation Mechanism (JI) work together to help all parties achieve emission reduction targets in a flexible way. From the perspective of environmental protection, Kyoto Protocol has restricted the greenhouse gas emissions of various countries in the form of laws and regulations, and from the perspective of economy, it has spawned a carbon trading market dominated by carbon dioxide emission rights. Because carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, and because the other five greenhouse gases use carbon dioxide to calculate their final emissions according to their different global warming potentials, this market is called "carbon market" for short internationally.
Market participants have expanded from the initial state and public enterprises to private enterprises and financial institutions. In this carbon market with a scale of more than $60 billion at present, the transaction mainly revolves around two aspects. On the one hand, various emission (emission reduction) quotas change hands through the exchange platform, on the other hand, they are relatively complicated transactions with emission reduction projects as the target. The former derives financial derivatives similar to options and futures, and the latter has also become the target of various funds. Moreover, the trading tools in this market are constantly innovating and the scale is still growing rapidly. According to the current development speed, carbon trading will become the largest commodity trading market in the world in the near future.