Professor Minas Delivers Lecture on International Carbon Pricing in Guangzhou

STL Professor Stephen Minas recently visited Guangzhou to give a lecture on the legal construction of carbon pricing mechanisms in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon pricing is a way to incentivise projects that reduce emissions, such as renewable energy infrastructure, or which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, either using natural carbon sinks like forests of through technological processes. There are both regulatory and voluntary carbon pricing mechanisms, including in China and locally in Guangdong.

The lecture had the theme of ‘Building a Paris Agreement System of Carbon Crediting: Latest developments in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO), and legal aspects’.

The 2015 Paris Agreement established a new UN mechanism for carbon crediting projects, as well as a framework for bilateral cooperation between countries. ICAO operates a carbon offsetting scheme for airlines. The IMO is in the process of approving a Net-Zero Framework, which includes carbon pricing and trading.

The lecture was hosted by InteLAW GBA (Law Ascertainment Center (Guangzhou) for BRI) and the Cross-border Legal Research Institute of Guangzhou Law Society. It was held at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Belt and Road (Nansha, Guangzhou) Legal Services Cluster in Innovation Bay. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session with scholars and practitioners. Later, participants were given a tour of the Guangzhou Nansha Guangdong Hong Kong Macao GBA Climate Investment and Service Center, enabling informal discussions of climate finance developments in and around the GBA.