China puts trading index, insurance in place for aquaculture carbon offsets

An oyster company in China’s aquaculture belt has announced what it claims is the country’s first carbon offset credit.

The Ocean and Fisheries Bureau in the city Weihai, Shandong province, announced the signing in mid-June of an agreement between authorities in Wendeng county, a Rushan oyster production cooperative, and the China Life Insurance firm to create a system of indexes for wind, wave height, and other natural conditions, which it said is vital to the development of the “fisheries carbon sink market.”

Government in various Chinese coastal provinces have looked to the potential of carbon credits as an additional revenue source for the fisheries sector. An estimated 15,000 tons worth of carbon credits from a pilot program in Liancheng county in Fujian province were sold for CNY 12 million (USD 1.8 million, EUR 1.6 million) earlier this year. They were sold through what’s described as China’s first marine carbon sink trading platform at the Xiamen Carbon and Emissions Trading Center, also located in Fujian province.

The Rushan oyster carbon sink project is part of the municipal government’s Weihai Blue Carbon Action Plan 2021-2025, and puts in place an insurance indexing system to protect investors in the event of natural disasters damaging aquaculture stocks that are part of the burgeoning carbon offset movement. Located near Weihai, Rushan is a key location for China’s oyster production. The involvement of state-owned China Life in the project is significant given it’s one of China’s largest insurers and financial services corporations.

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