(Bloomberg) -- China wants online trading in its national carbon market to begin before the end of June as it seeks more tools to help cut emissions.
Huang Runqiu, the country's Minister of Ecology and Environment, visited two areas playing key roles in setting up the national market and urged them to finish work in time to meet the target, according to a Sunday statement.
The emissions trading system will initially focus on China's power sector, which accounts for almost half of the nation's carbon and 14% of the world's total, according to BloombergNEF. The rules guiding the national market -- announced more than three years ago -- became official on Feb. 1, but online trading has not yet begun.
Read about why China's carbon market is getting off to a slow start.
Huang visited Hubei, home to the regional carbon exchange that is building the database for the national system, and Shanghai, home to the bourse that will host trading.
The government sees trading of emissions allowances as a way to use market mechanisms to control and reduce greenhouse gases, and promote green development. It's taken on new urgency since September, when President Xi Jinping announced the country's plan to be carbon neutral by 2060.
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