OREANDA-NEWS. December 12, 2013. Beijing became the third Chinese city to launch a carbon trading scheme to regulate soaring CO2 emissions from its main power generators and manufacturers, with first trades reported to have gone through at 50 yuan (USD9) per permit.

The capital followed newly established markets in Shenzhen and Shanghai, with Guangdong province set to open one in December that will be the second-biggest in the world after the European Union.

The regional markets are part of China's strategy to cut its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP to 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 as the country seeks to limit climate change, address future energy security issues and stave off international criticism for being the world's biggest emitter.

The China Beijing Environment Exchange (CBEEX), which hosts trading in the Beijing market, told Reuters that two bilateral trades for a total of 40,000 permits had been registered on Thursday at 50 yuan per permit. Each permit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide.

State-owned oil and gas company Sinopec Corp and investment bank CITIC Securities each bought 20,000 permits.

In addition, a smaller deal for 800 permits went through on the exchange at 51.25 yuan.