2.1 Definition of carbon neutrality
The so-called "carbon neutral", or net zero emissions, refers to the carbon emissions necessary for human economic and social activities, which are captured, utilized or stored through forest carbon sinks and other artificial technologies or engineering means, so that the net increase of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere is zero.
With the adjustment of industrial structure and the increasingly strict demand for energy in various countries, the low-carbon economic development model will gradually replace the traditional high-pollution development model. The carbon-neutral industry will be a strategic industry that will drive national economic growth, optimize industrial structure and break through the constraint of energy bottleneck in the future.
Since the 1990s, the international community has made efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on the United Nations convention on climate change, and has officially implemented greenhouse gas emission reduction targets since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol1 in 1997. First, 38 advanced countries including the U.S., Japan, Australia and Canada, led by the European Union, were selected as targets for mandatory emission reduction obligations, and an emissions trading system was introduced to ensure flexibility in the implementation system.
That is, each country is given corresponding carbon emission quota. When the quota quota is sufficient, they are allowed to transfer the emission right quota; otherwise, when the quota quota is insufficient, they are allowed to purchase the emission right quota from the country or enterprise with the quota margin. In other words, the greenhouse gas emission reduction target is an asset that can be freely traded in the market.
Countries that receive greenhouse-gas emissions quotas then break them down to individual companies at home.
Last modified 6mo ago