China recommends 30 carbon-footprint rules for cotton yarn, nickel, cables and other products

What was published? China has expanded its official list of methods for calculating the carbon footprint of industrial products. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) published on November 10 notice No. 384 of 2026, dated November 6, with a fourth batch of 30 recommended industry-association standards (团体标准). According to the notice, the standards went through nomination by standardisation bodies, expert review and online public notice. The text cites the government’s 2024 work plan for controlling the total amount and intensity of carbon emissions.

Which products are covered? The batch spans textiles, metals, chemicals and electronics. In textiles, it covers cotton yarn, colour-spun yarn (色纺纱) and dyed and printed fabric of chemical fibres and blends. In metals, it covers tin ingots, electrolytic nickel, electrowon cobalt, rare-earth products from hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy, welded steel pipe and metallurgical lime. It also includes wires and cables, nickel-metal hydride batteries, PVC film and sheet flooring, disposable hygiene products, adhesives, lubricants, rubber and plastics machinery, bamboo building products, speakers, scanners, anti-static floors and workbenches, telecom equipment, ships and rockets.

What does a figure calculated under these rules measure? It depends on each standard, and the full text of all 30 can be downloaded from the MIIT website. The cotton yarn standard (T/CNTAC 239-2025), issued by the China National Textile and Apparel Council on September 12, 2025, calculates the footprint per tonne of yarn, in kilograms of CO2 equivalent, from raw-material acquisition through manufacturing to delivery. Use and disposal fall outside that boundary. The standard builds on China’s national standard GB/T 24067 and cites ISO 14026:2017.

Are these rules mandatory? No. The notice publishes a recommended list, and industry-association standards are voluntary. The plan for national standards also uses only recommended standards, with the GB/T prefix, the same as the new sportswear standard in force since November 1. With this batch, the list reaches 141 methods: 15 in the first batch (January 2025), 23 in the second (June 2025), 73 in the third (January 2026) and now 30 (CSP tally).

What comes next? SAMR, NDRC, MEE, MIIT and the National Energy Administration issued a 2026–2028 plan, dated October 19 and announced on October 30, that targets more than 100 national carbon-footprint standards across energy, raw materials, consumer goods, machinery and equipment, and transport vehicles. Its annex lists 175 recommended national standards; cotton textiles and apparel are due in 2026, and footwear in 2027. The plan asks for national standards to be aligned with the work on association standards, for some to be developed in step with international standards, and for China to seek mutual recognition with other countries’ standards.

CSP view: for importers of cotton yarn, fabric, nickel or cables from China (yarn and fabric are part of the country’s textile and apparel exports), the question for the supplier is no longer just “what is your carbon footprint”. It is worth also asking for the standard used (the T/... code), the declared unit, the calculation boundary and whether a third party verified the figure. A number calculated under a recommended Chinese standard is not automatically accepted by another country’s rules or by a customer’s climate programme; that should be checked before the figure goes into a report or contract. This reading is ours, not the Chinese agencies’.