The Hainan International Carbon Emissions Exchange, based in Sanya - a coastal resort city at the southern tip of China’s tropical Hainan Island - has recently registered the province’s first cross-border carbon emission transaction.

The Hainan International Carbon Emissions Exchange opened in Sanya in July 2022. (Photo courtesy of “三亚发布” public Wechat account)

According to the Exchange, the transaction took place between Beijing-based Timing Carbon Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Singapore’s Bitgreen Carbon Assets Management Pte. Ltd., and involved a project of a manufacturing company based in India, one of the countries included in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The project deals with the product of 10,185-ton Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program - the world's most widely used greenhouse gas (GHG) crediting program.

The attestation letter of the transaction made through the Exchange.  (Photo courtesy of “三亚发布” public Wechat account)

To develop Hainan into a globally influential high-level free trade port (FTP) by the middle of the century, China issued the master plan for the Hainan FTP in June 2020, which proposed that support would be granted to establish international trading venues for energy, shipping, intellectual property rights, equities, and carbon emission rights in Hainan.

Established on July 25, 2022, the Exchange is one of the nine key international trading venues for the development of the Hainan FTP. Its establishment also demonstrates the nation's low-carbon transformation and further opening up of its financial markets.

According to a representative of the Exchange, taking advantage of the preferential FTP policies, more innovations will be made to optimize services for international trade of voluntary emission reductions, creating a globally competitive carbon emission trading center.