China is facing the dual challenges of mitigating climate change and maintaining the pace of economic growth.In order to control greenhouse gas emissions with the least social cost,China has piloted seven regional carbon markets since 2013.More importantly,it announced the launching of the national emission trading scheme (ETS) in late 2017.To rationalize the design of the national ETS,this paper aims to provide a roadmap of Chinas ETS development from an economic perspective.In the short-term,the priority is to develop a robust market by enhancing the establishment of property rights and monitoring,reporting,and verification (MRV) system.In the mid-term,the national ETS should increase its market liquidity with a higher share of allowance auctioned and the development of carbon finance.In the long-term,the ETS should gradually tighten its emission target to form an explicit while increasing carbon price,and to provide a continuous incentive for Chinas decarbonization.