On 13 May 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in charge of the national ETS development in China, issued a non-public notice to the local DRCs (Chinese) expanding the subsectors covered by the national ETS in the chemicals, iron and steel, and power sectors. The overall covered sectors have not been changed.
The NDRC previously stated that roughly 10,000 companies would be covered by the national ETS from next year, however, recent estimates suggest that this number will be closer to 7,000 (Chinese).
These additional subsectors must also send their verified historical emissions data to the NDRC by the end of June 2016, consistent with the planned schedule of the January notice, putting additional time pressure on the local DRCs. It is not yet clear when the final list of covered entities under the national ETS will be published.
