China releases draft national standards for carbon emissions management disclosure by companies 
On November 4, China’s National Carbon Emissions Management Standardization Technical Committee released draft national recommended standards called the Guidelines for Information Disclosure of Organization Carbon Emission Management to solicit public comments. Comments will be accepted until December 18. The Carbon Trading Management Rules (Trial Implementation), issued in May by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stipulate that a carbon emissions disclosure system should be established. Here is an overview of the draft standards.
Scope
- The standards set out principles, types and details of carbon emissions management disclosure by organizations.
- The standards apply to organizations’ disclosure of the management of carbon dioxide emitted from their operations.
- The standards may also be used as a reference for management information of greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide.
Disclosure types
There are two types of disclosure, namely, voluntary and requested disclosure. If organizations make a disclosure voluntarily, they formulate a policy and plan for carbon emissions management disclosure, and prepare necessary reports and disclose them in an appropriate manner in accordance with relevant national standards, including GB/T 26450. Disclosure may be made on a third-party platform for greater social credibility.
Disclosure details
The following information is disclosed:
- Summary of the organization
- Scope of disclosure (e.g. organizations, facilities, equipment and locations)
- Information on carbon emissions management (e.g. a relevant plan and a management system)
- Status of compliance with carbon emissions rules
- Amount of carbon emissions, including the carbon footprint of main products with information on whether it is verified by a third party, emissions per product, emission per unit area and the energy consumption of products
- Carbon emissions reduction status (e.g. the utilization of environmentally conscious techniques or CCUS technologies and product improvements)
- Support the organization provides to other organizations to help them reduce carbon emissions
- Impact the organization has made on the external environment and other things
The full text of the draft standards (in simplified Chinese) is available at
https://www.cnis.ac.cn/bydt/bzyjzq/gbyjzq/202111/t20211104_52229.html
