On 16 Feb. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the “Typical Cases of Judicially Active and Steady Promotion of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality” (司法積極穩妥推進碳達峰碳中和典型案例).
There are ten cases in this batch. Among others, the noteworthy ones are as follows.
Case No. 1 involves Bitcoin mining services. The court held that Bitcoin “mining” consumed vast amounts of electricity and energy, which does not align with the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Therefore, the contract involving the transaction was null and void.
Case No. 2 involves the over-quota use of controlled ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The court held that the tortfeasor used Freon and caused its discharge even though knowing trichlorofluoromethane (commonly known as Freon) is controlled ODS, which is expressly prohibited from being used in production. Therefore, the tortfeasor should pay damages for ecological environment infringement.
Case No. 7 involves carbon emission quotas. The court found that the actual carbon emission of a Shenzhen company in 2014 exceeded the quota it held. Therefore the penalty imposed by the enforcement agency was lawful.
Case No. 8 involves using carbon emission quotas as assets to compensate execution creditors. After the judgment creditor applied to the court to enforce the judgment, the court found that the judgment debtor still held unused carbon emission quotas. Consequently, the court froze the unused quotas and listed them for sale in exchange to compensate the judgment creditor for damages.
Cover Photo by Jillian Luo on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
