GEC market surges in 2024 amid green power push

China's market for green electricity certificates, designed to boost renewable energy consumption, saw explosive growth in 2024, with trading volume quadrupling, as the country builds a robust system to verify and trade clean power attributes, according to a government report.

The China Green Electricity Certificate Development Report (2024), released by the National Energy Administration on Monday, showed that China's green certificate system framework is now essentially complete, with a cumulative total of 4.955 billion certificates issued by the end of December 2024.

Fueled by supportive policies and market mechanisms, the report highlighted a surge in market activity, with the national green certificate transaction volume reaching 446 million in 2024, a four fold increase compared to the previous year, it said.

GECs are the sole proof of the environmental attributes of renewable energy power in China and serve as the only certificate for verifying renewable energy production and consumption.

According to the report, the number of participating consumer entities nationwide jumped to approximately 59,000, a 2.5-fold year-on-year increase. Manufacturing companies emerged as the largest buyers, accounting for around 70 percent of total certificate purchases.

Economically vibrant regions, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, collectively traded 240 million certificates, exceeding 50 percent of the national total, the NEA report showed.

Analysts believe the dynamic growth of China's green certificate market is driven by a combination of government policy support and evolving market mechanisms, signaling the nation's accelerating commitment to renewable energy and its role in meeting climate goals.

The robust national trend is mirrored in regional hubs. According to China Southern Power Grid, the trading volume of regional green certificates and green power in the southern regions of the country reached 128.9 billion kilowatt-hours in the first quarter of this year.

This single quarter's transaction volume surpassed the combined total of the preceding two years.

This surge in scale reflects a significant upgrade in green consumption, with the platform witnessing a dramatic spike in March. Participant numbers also soared, exceeding 12,000 entities, a four fold year-on-year increase, it said.