Roadmap to a Northeast Asian Carbon Market | Asia Society Skip to main content

Unsupported Browser Detected.
It seems the web browser you're using doesn't support some of the features of this site. For the best experience, we recommend using a modern browser that supports the features of this website. We recommend Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge

  • Back to asiasociety.org
  • Topics
    • Prosperity
    • Security
    • Sustainability
  • Countries & Regions
    • East Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Central Asia
    • West Asia
  • Publications
    • All Publications
    • ASPI Notes
  • Initiatives
  • Watch & Listen
    • Video
    • Podcasts
  • Events
    • AsiaX
    • Past Events
  • About
    • Mission
    • How We Work
    • Institutional Independence
    • Staff
    • Fellows and Advisors
    • Network of Experts
    • Supporters
    • News
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Schwartz Book Award
    • Join Our Email List
  • Support Us
Search
Asia Society Policy Institute
  • Topics
    • Prosperity
    • Security
    • Sustainability
  • Countries & Regions
    • East Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Central Asia
    • West Asia
  • Publications
    • All Publications
    • ASPI Notes
  • Initiatives
  • Watch & Listen
    • Video
    • Podcasts
  • Events
    • AsiaX
    • Past Events
  • About
    • Mission
    • How We Work
    • Institutional Independence
    • Staff
    • Fellows and Advisors
    • Network of Experts
    • Supporters
    • News
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Schwartz Book Award
    • Join Our Email List
  • Support Us

Roadmap to a Northeast Asian Carbon Market

An Asia Society Policy Institute Report

The global climate change challenge requires major reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions around the world, and few regions are as critical to this task as Northeast Asia. China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea now account for more than a quarter of global GHG emissions, and they are each using carbon markets to reduce their emissions footprints.

Carbon markets cap how much a company or organization can emit, and compel them to buy “allowances” for emitting beyond their limit. They create tradeable units, with emitters that fall below their limits selling permits to those that exceed them. When effective, carbon markets provide flexible options for lowering emissions at reduced costs.

Roadmap to a Northeast Asian Carbon Market argues that by linking their markets, China, Japan, and Korea could make them more economically, environmentally, and strategically valuable.

Economically, linking can reduce costs by expanding the number of market participants in ways that make the markets more efficient and less volatile. Environmentally, linkage can take away incentives for companies to move their emitting activities from one area to another with weaker regulations. By reducing costs, linkage can also lead these countries to set more ambitious climate change targets. Strategically, linking markets could provide a confidence-building measure for wider Northeast Asian relationships and demonstrate global climate change leadership.

Linking will not be easy, and the differences in the economies of these countries and in the carbon markets they are developing present a range of challenges. This report, authored by ASPI Director of Asian Sustainability Dr. Jackson Ewing with insights from regional and international experts and practitioners, offers recommendations for how these challenges can be overcome, and contends that the time is right to build regional carbon market collaboration.  

This report feeds into the wider ASPI initiative, Toward a Northeast Asian Carbon Market. ASPI is committed to working with regional and international stakeholders as Northeast Asian markets evolve, and convening dialogues that are frequent, multi-stakeholder, and at both senior policy and technical levels. 

Executive Summary

English: Download print-friendly version (PDF, 91 KB)

Chinese: Download print-friendly version (PDF, 558 KB)

Full Report

English: Download print-friendly version (PDF, 959 KB)

Chinese: Download print-friendly version (PDF, 1.7 MB)

About the Author

Jackson Ewing

Dr. Jackson Ewing is the Director of Asian Sustainability at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) in New York, where he leads projects on environmental cooperation, responsible resource development, and international climate change policy. Prior to joining ASPI, he led the Environment, Climate Change, and Food Security Program at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). He has worked throughout Asia with actors in government, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations, and has carried out policy projects addressing transboundary environmental stresses, unsustainable food value chains, and the nexus of systemic water, food, and energy challenges. Dr. Ewing publishes widely through a range of mediums and is a regular contributor to radio, television, and print media. He holds a doctorate in environmental security and a master’s degree in international relations from Bond University, a bachelor’s degree in political science from the College of Charleston, and an ongoing fellowship at RSIS.

About the Initiative

  • Chinese workers ride in a boat through a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 13, 2017 in Huainan, Anhui province, China. The floating solar field is billed as the largest in the world. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

    Toward a Northeast Asia Carbon Market

    ASPI initiative to create a roadmap for linking the carbon markets in China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

Downloads

  • RoadmapNortheastern-final-online+.pdf (PDF, 959.48 KB)
  • RoadmapNortheastern-ExecSummary-final-online+ 10.pdf (PDF, 91.04 KB)
  • Roadmap Exec. Summary (Chinese).pdf (PDF, 557.56 KB)
  • Roadmap Report (Chinese).pdf (PDF, 1.74 MB)

Press Release

Carbon Market Cooperation in Northeast Asia Could Significantly Reduce Emissions

Launch Event

  • Policy
     /  Washington, DC

    Fighting Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific Through Markets and Finance (Complete)

    A high-level panel discusses how to deploy market tools in combating climate change.
    Watch Now

Related Content

  • article

    South Korea's Carbon Market a Model for the Rest of Asia

    Alistair Ritchie writes in Nikkei Asia about the emissions trading systems in Asia.
  • interview

    China’s Carbon Market Launch: Foundations, First Impressions and Future

    Jackson Ewing, Environmental Defense Fund's Xiaolu Zhao, and SinoCarbon's Zhibin Chen discuss what China's just-launched emissions trading scheme will mean for climate change.
  • speech

    Prospects for International Carbon Market

    Alistair Ritchie delivered a presentation for the 11th International Greenhouse Gas Conference on Prospects for Carbon Markets in 2030.
  • China’s Emissions Trading System in Context

    Jackson Ewing explains China's nascent emissions scheme in the Harvard report "Market Mechanisms and the Paris Agreement."
  • ASPI Makes the Case for Carbon Market Cooperation in Northeast Asia at Climate Week NYC

    ASPI continued the dialogue on carbon market cooperation in Northeast Asia through series of activities during Climate Week NYC.
About
  • Mission & History
  • Our People
  • Become a Member
  • Career Opportunities
  • Corporate Involvement
visit us
  • Hong Kong
  • New York
  • Texas
global network
  • Australia
  • France
  • India
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Northern California
  • Philippines
  • Southern California
  • Switzerland
  • Washington, DC
resources
  • Arts
  • Asia Society Magazine
  • ChinaFile
  • Current Affairs
  • Education
  • For Kids
  • Policy
  • Video
shop
  • AsiaStore
initiatives
  • Arts & Museum Summit
  • Asia 21 Young Leaders
  • Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
  • Asia Game Changer Awards
  • Asia Society Museum: The Asia Arts & Museum Network
  • Asia Society Policy Institute
  • Asian Women Empowered
  • Center for Global Education
  • Center on U.S.-China Relations
  • China Learning Initiatives
  • Coal + Ice
  • Creative Voices of Muslim Asia
  • Global Cities Education Network
  • Global Talent Initiatives
  • U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit
  • U.S.-China Dialogue
  • U.S.-China Museum Summit
Connect
Email Signup For the media
Asia Society logo
©2022 Asia Society | Privacy Statement | Accessibility | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap | Contact

Asia Society takes no institutional position on policy issues and has no affiliation with any government.
The views expressed by Asia Society staff, fellows, experts, report authors, program speakers, board members, and other affiliates are solely their own. Learn more.

 

 

  • Visit Us
  • Hong Kong
  • New York
  • Texas
  • Global Network
  • Australia
  • France
  • India
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Northern California
  • Philippines
  • Southern California
  • Switzerland
  • Washington, DC