BEIJING — Vice-Premier Han Zheng attended a ceremony initiating the trading in the national carbon market in Beijing on July 16.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, announced the official start of the trading at the main venue of the ceremony, which was held via video link.

Branch venues of the ceremony are in Hubei province and Shanghai. Hubei will lead the building, operation, and maintenance work of the registration system of the market, while Shanghai will lead work related to the trading system.

The market is a major institutional innovation to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development through market mechanisms. It is also an important policy tool to promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Carbon emissions by more than 2,000 power companies involved in the first trading group are estimated to exceed 4 billion tonnes per year, making the market the world's largest in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions covered.