The Beijing Environment Exchange was set up in Beijing on August 5, 2008, — the first environmental rights trading institution in China.

Carbon emission quotas will be sold to the public via this platform.

Business areas of the exchange will cover the trading of environmental technologies, energy conservation indicators, rights and interests in sulfur dioxide and CO2 emissions, and greenhouse gas reduction.

Currently foreign buyers account for a large part in carbon emission trading, yet its transparency of information is far from satisfactory, putting Chinese companies in a weak position. The price of carbon emission trading on the international market is about EUR17 per ton, but in China it is EUR8 to EUR10. The Beijing Environment Exchange is expected to change this unfavorable situation.