NEA Releases January 2026 Renewable Energy Green Certificate Issuance and Trading Data
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) released the official data on the issuance and trading of Renewable Energy Green Power Certificates for January 2026 on February 14, 2026, shedding light on the steady development of the country’s renewable energy green certificate market and the continuous improvement of its trading mechanism.
In January 2026, a total of 196 million green certificates were issued nationwide, covering 832,000 renewable energy power generation projects. Among them, 151 million certificates were tradable, accounting for 76.79% of the total issued volume. Notably, 152 million green certificates, making up 77.49% of the total, were issued corresponding to the renewable energy power generation in December 2025, reflecting the close linkage between certificate issuance and actual power generation output.
Broken down by renewable energy type, wind power led the issuance with 85.45 million green certificates, followed by solar power with 54.90 million, conventional hydropower with 41.58 million, biomass power with 13.11 million, and other renewable energy sources with 0.98 million. The issuance structure fully demonstrates the dominant position of wind and solar power in China’s renewable energy development layout.
On the trading front, the national green certificate trading volume reached 102 million in January 2026, including 33.69 million green certificates traded through green power transactions. In terms of trading volume by energy type, wind power stood at 48.97 million, solar power at 42.06 million, biomass power at 7.97 million, and other renewable energy sources at 3.06 million, with wind and solar power remaining the core varieties in the trading market.
The separate trading of green certificates also maintained an active momentum, with a total of 68.37 million green certificates traded independently in January. Specifically, 6.5 million certificates corresponding to the power generation in 2024 were traded at an average price of 1.25 yuan per certificate.
Meanwhile, 61.88 million certificates linked to 2025 power generation saw transactions at an average price of 5.51 yuan per certificate. The price growth of green certificates for different production years indicates the market’s increasing recognition of the value of renewable energy green certificates, especially those with recent power generation backgrounds.
The stable growth of green certificate issuance and trading volume, as well as the rational rise in transaction prices, fully reflects the positive results of China’s continuous promotion of renewable energy development and the construction of a green low-carbon energy system. As an important credential for identifying renewable energy power consumption, green certificates are playing an increasingly important role in promoting the market-oriented allocation of renewable energy resources and boosting the high-quality development of the green energy industry.