Recent Progress in Research on China’s Carbon Emission Trading Policy: An Overview

China’s major national development goals and policies prioritize the implementation of initiatives to conserve energy and reduce emissions under the challenges of climate change. The carbon trading market has become a significant tool for energy conservation and emission reduction under the Kyoto Protocol framework. China initiated seven emissions trading scheme (ETS) pilots in 2011 and established a nationwide ETS by the end of 2017 to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate its substantial energy transformation economically. Over the past over ten years, an increasing number of researches have focused on analyzing the designs, developments, impacts, challenges, and prospects of China’s ETS pilots. This paper aims to provide an overview on recent progress in the study of China’s ETS pilots. It first gives a brief introduction to the history and current status of China’s ETS markets. Then the policy effects of ETS, including the carbon emission reduction effects, economic development effects, technology and energy efficiency effects, as well as other spillover effects, are discussed, followed by an overview on the comparison and coordination between ETS and other relevant climate policies. It further presents an overview of the studies that elaborate on the construction and optimization of China’s carbon trading markets, including carbon market mechanisms, market efficiency, coordination and linking between different carbon markets, and market regulation. It is envisioned this progress review could provide useful implications and guidelines for developing China’s carbon trading markets.