2015年CRI National Carbon Emission Trading Market Planed for 2017（在线收听）

Briefing a news conference on Thursday, Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change, said the country is exploring emissions trading mechanisms.

"China now is piloting emission trading in seven provinces or municipalities, and the work is going well. All of them have started online trading, and their prices are stable, which you can see for details in the report. But the pilot program does not focus on the prices. Its purpose is to explore a market mechanism."

Xie Zhenhua made the remarks as the country released a report on its fight against climate change over this past year.

The negotiator said there is a lot of work to do within the emission trading mechanism and law making is a priority for the time being.

"We are working on laws and regulations for emission trading. When we complete all the preparation work, we will move on to establish a unified national market."

China began piloting carbon trading in 2011 and approved seven schemes in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangdong and Hubei.

Under the schemes, enterprises which produce more than their share of emissions are allowed to buy unused quotas on the market from those that cause less pollution.

According to the country's top economic planner, the NDRC, transactions of the seven pilots have totaled close to 1.2 billion yuan, involving gas emission quotas of over 40 million tones.

Xie Zhenhua said the nationwide carbon emissions trading market is expected to be launched at a faster pace following the smooth operation of the seven pilot schemes, while international cooperation is welcomed.

"Now there are many countries, like some local governments of America, the EU and some neighboring countries. They all want to cooperate with us to establish a unified emission trading market. So now we are having cooperation with other countries, exchanging experience with them."

Xie Zhenhua also reiterated China's goals in its own "Intended Nationally Determined Contribution" to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent and peak its carbon emissions by the same date.

He also said the country wanted a legally binding agreement to be reached at the world climate summit in Paris that begins at the end of this month.

Also on Thursday, China issued its first state-level standards for the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from major industries, like power generation and steel.

It's the latest step in the country to tackle climate change.