Initial carbon quota allocation methods of power sectors: a China case study

China intends to launch the national trade system of carbon emissions in 2017. Assigning the initial quotas properly under the fixed overall amount for the power sectors which are the main members contained in the trade system is one of the most difficult and important parts. The purpose of this paper was to achieve a fair allocation as far as possible. After analyzing the carbon emissions from thermal power generation among all 30 provinces in China, this paper sets the mixed quota allocation method which is most proper for each province, taking the survival and development into account. The zero sum gains DEA model (hereinafter referred to as ZSG-DEA) is used to evaluate the efficiency of production with given initial quota. The result indicates that the emissions of power sectors take more than 40 % in all. Moreover, the more the thermal power is, the more emissions would be. The mixed quota allocation method could make 76 % of province be in the status of normal operation. Moreover, the average efficiency of the project reaches 83.38 %; meanwhile, all 30 provinces could reach DEA efficiency by three adjustments of iterations. The project employed in this paper would provide references for policymakers to establish and operate the carbon emissions trading market.