China's carbon market leads globally, EY reports

China's carbon market is emerging as the world's largest with a comprehensive regulatory framework in place, said a report by accounting firm Ernst & Young on Friday.

It reported that China's carbon market saw trades of 442 million metric tons of emission quotas as of date, generating a cumulative transaction value of 24.9 billion yuan ($3.5 billion).

Notably, market activity surged last year, with trading volumes reaching 212 million tons, which was 4.2 times of 2022.

The transaction value last year also soared to 14.44 billion yuan, which was 5.1 times of 2022.

Last year, the average annual carbon price climbed to 68.15 yuan per ton, representing a 23 percent uptick from 2022, indicating growing demand for carbon emission quotas, said the report.

The report said the pricing mechanism of China's carbon market is also developing towards.