China on Tuesday launched its first environmental exchange in Beijing, aiming to eventually provide a platform for emission quota trading, the parent company and state media said.
The Beijing Environmental Exchange will be a trading platform for environmental protection technology as well as sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand emission permits, the China Beijing Equity Exchange said in a statement on its website.
"The Beijing Environment Exchange will fully play its role as a market platform bringing together domestic and foreign companies, agencies, banks and investment banks," Xiong Yan, chairman of the exchange, said in the statement.
The exchange will report directly to government departments including the environmental protection ministry and the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency.
It is the first environmental equity trading institution in China and will initially focus on environmental technology business, with an aim to finally incorporating carbon emission trading, said Tuesday's Beijing Evening News.
It is also expected to help lift domestic carbon emission quota prices to the international level by providing access to trading information for local sellers, according to the report.
Currently Chinese sellers sell carbon emission quota at between eight and 10 euros (12 to 15 dollars) per tonne, compared to the international level of around 17 euros per tonne, it said.

China may delay the issuance of the second batch of coal export quotas until well after this month's Olympics, Reuters reported, citing traders.

China is struggling to keep coal at home to power electricity generators as severe power shortage ramped across the country. Generators cannot secure enough coal or refuse to pay soaring prices while selling their power at state-set tariffs.

The second batch of quotas, typically issued in June or July, has been delayed this year, although incentives to export have eased as international coal prices pulled back from last month's record high and domestic prices remain strong despite price controls.

The government expanded a cap on thermal coal prices at the end of July to include port transactions, after an initial cap on mine prices in June failed at both halting the surge in spot prices and easing the country's coal shortage.

"A priority for the new administration is to come up with concrete measures to guarantee coal supply in the following two months," Zhang Guobao, head of China's newly established National Energy Administration, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying last week.

These measures could include scaling back and delaying the second batch of export quotas, as well as improving transportation and boosting production, analysts said.

Coal shortages may ease after the Olympics, when local governments would be more willing to reopen small mines, analysts have said.

The Beijing Olympics is considered a politically sensitive period, when local government officials would want to avoid the risk of a high-profile mine disaster that could damage their political career.

Spot coal prices have remained high in China, despite the government order in late July that they should be capped at June 19 levels.

Prices for coal of 5,500 kcal/kg thermal value at northern ports were more than 1,000 yuan a tonne, little changed from the benchmark price at Qinhuangdao, China's top coal shipping port, before the government's price freeze.

The government cap called for a maximum price of 860 yuan per tonne for that grade of coal at Qinhuangdao.