CHONGQING - Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality launched its carbon trading market on Thursday, marking the operation of all seven approved pilot trading programs in the country.

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Sixteen transactions worth more than 4.45 million yuan ($723,577) and involving gas emission quotas of 145,000 tons were reached within half an hour after the trading started at 9:30 am on Thursday.

The city selected 254 companies with carbon dioxide emissions exceeding 20,000 tons each per year for the trading market. The government imposes emission quotas for them.

The government will study policies to encourage banks to offer good financing services to the 254 companies.

Chongqing is the last to start the carbon trading program among the seven pilot provinces or cities.

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

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

Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said Chinese enterprises had traded over 3.85 million tons of carbon emission quotas as of May 23.

These quotas were sold for 125 million yuan, making China a major carbon trader, second only to the European Union.