China focuses on emissions plan Burning issue: a coal-burning power station in central Beijing. The Chinese government has unveiled a detailed roadmap for a national emission trading scheme in a significant sign the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter will introduce a country-wide carbon price. Speaking in Washington, the deputy director of China's powerful National Development and Reform Commission, Wang Shu, backed a national scheme, saying it could provide "an efficient and lower-cost approach for addressing climate change and realising low carbon development." The speech to an arm of the World Bank last week preceded the political debate around carbon pricing in Australia flaring again on Monday, with the Coalition renewing its vow to scrap Australia's carbon price and replace it with a "direct action" policy. Australia introduced a national carbon price in July last year at a fixed price - often called a tax - of $23 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted. It is designed to become a fully fledged emissions trading scheme in mid-2015. In China, an emissions scheme would be built on regional pilot schemes due to start this year in five cities and two provinces. Mr Wang said China would turn its focus on implementing a national market from 2015. It is going to happen that development of ETS [sic]. The only problem is how to improve it step-by-step," his presentation says. China's submission to the World Bank's Partnership for Market Readiness program says it anticipates a full national trading scheme will be ready during its the 13th Five-Year Plan period between 2016 and 2020. Mr Wang said disagreement still exists over a separate carbon tax for China. He said there was no confirmed schedule and a tax was still being studied and coordinated. China is the world's largest greenhouse gas emissions and burns nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined. It has set a target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. The Australian National University's Dr Frank Jotzo said the work program signalled China was serious about preparing a national trading scheme. "China has a challenge on its hands making carbon pricing work effectively with command-and-control approaches still dominant and alongside a plethora of non-pricing policies to reduce energy demand and emissions," he said. But there clearly is commitment to move to market-based mechanisms for climate policy. The Chinese submission says work to establish a national trading scheme was separated into seven "building blocks" with research to determine which industries would be covered, how the market would operate and the involvement of the energy sector and state-owned enterprises. Mr Wang said it was estimated that work to develop Chinese emissions trading schemes would cost $US100 million. The national government had already committed $US66 million, while the European Union, Norway and other donors had committed $US12 million. China last week won a further $US8 million from the Partnership for Market Readiness program to help develop a national carbon market. Mr Wang said China was planning to co-operate with countries like Australia, Japan and Germany to get capital and technology support. Mr Wang said emissions trading also featured in China's draft climate change law and the draft national plan on addressing climate change. Climate Institute head John Connor said: "The important message for Australians is that China is focused on, in the powerful NDRC's deputy director's own words a "new carbon era" - we delay the transformation of our own high carbon economy at our own peril."