China's national carbon market saw a sharp decline in trading activity last week ended July 24, with volumes falling significantly as the two-week rally cooled, though prices remained elevated near record levels.

The national carbon emission allowance (CEA) price hit a weekly high of 93.80 yuan/t and a low of 90.05 yuan/t, closing at 93.58 yuan/t on July 24, up 3.95% from the previous week's close.

Total weekly CEA volume stood at 2.21 million tonnes, down 44.59% from a week earlier. Listed contract volume fell 50.25% to 793,100 tonnes, while bulk contract volume dropped 40.81% to 1.42 million tonnes. No one-way bidding transactions were recorded.

Total weekly turnover fell 42.95% to 202 million yuan. Listed contract turnover declined 48.95% to 73 million yuan, and bulk contract turnover fell 38.89% to 129 million yuan.

Daily volumes ranged from a low of 244,200 tonnes on July 21 to a high of 826,400 tonnes on July 22.

From January 1 to July 24, cumulative CEA volume reached 64.53 million tonnes, with turnover of 5.09 billion yuan. Since inception, total volume stood at 929.39 million tonnes, with cumulative turnover of 62.75 billion yuan.

China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) prices fluctuated sharply last week, ranging from a high of 90.45 yuan/t to a low of 80.52 yuan/t, tracking CEA gains but with greater volatility. Volumes fell notably from the prior week.

Policies in Focus

In policy developments, the European Commission on July 17 proposed revisions to the EU Emissions Trading System, aiming to ease corporate decarbonization pressure while meeting a 90% greenhouse gas reduction target by 2040. The plan adjusts the linear reduction factor to 3.7% for 2031-2035 and 1.7% for 2036-2040, down from the current 4.3% and the planned 4.4% for 2028-2030.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on building national-level zero-carbon factories, outlining requirements, application conditions and evaluation criteria.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration, along with three other ministries, on July 24 released the 15th "Five-Year Plan" for forestry and grassland protection, targeting decisive progress in the "Three-North" shelterbelt project by 2030 and enhanced forest carbon sink capacity.

China's National Energy Administration on July 24 officially launched the China Green Electricity Certificate (GEC) Price Index, which closed at 181.0 points in June 2026, down 0.2% month on month but up 23.2% year on year.