China's nationwide carbon trading program still facing problems: official

China's carbontrading program is still facing problems and needs further improvements, a senior climate official told reporters on Tuesday, as thecountry tries to meet its commitment to launch ing this year. official with the e department of Development and ission, said at a ng that establishing a national emissions trading system is a ''complex” process that involves constant testing and continuous adjustments.

As part of its pledges made ahead of the Paris climate accord in 2015, China said it would set up a nationwide emissions trading program in the first half of this year, but the launch has been delayed amid concerns about unreliable data.

China is already the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gases and it has pledged to bring them to a peak by about 2030 by promoting cleaner energy use and emissions trading. Its nationwide emissions-trading program is expected to become the world’s biggest once it goes into operation, overtaking the EU’s.

China had traded 197 million tons of carbon dioxide with a total value of 4.5 billion yuan ($678.35 million) on its seven pilot carbon exchanges by the end of September, Li said.

“Through these pilot projects, we gained good experience and discovered some problems that are of great value to our efforts to launch the national plan,” he said.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s top climate official, told reporters at the briefing that the country remains “100 percent” committed to fulfilling its climate pledges, despite a decision from the US to pull out of the Paris accord this year.

He said China still hoped to cooperate on issues like clean energy, noting that on a state level, the US was still making progress.