(Yicai Global) July 18 -- On the first anniversary of China’s national carbon emissions trading scheme, the Shanghai exchange that operates the trading platform said it has begun work on developing a pricing benchmark for market participants that will help the country reach its targets for peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

The Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange will expedite research and development of a carbon price index with the support of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, an official said at the China International Carbon Trading Conference on July 16. The SEEE will also roll out products based on the index to diversify investment targets and guide more funding into low-carbon fields, the person added.

Since it launched on July 16 last year, the ETS has generally run smoothly, with trading turnover reaching 194 million tons worth nearly CNY8.5 billion (USD1.3 billion), according to SEEE data. Over 2,160 power producers were there at the start, covering more than 4.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, making China’s ETS the world’s biggest.

Eight exchange-traded funds based on the carbon neutrality investment index jointly released by the SEEE and China Securities Index in January have raised over CNY16 billion (USD2.4 billion) between them and will begin trading soon on the SSE and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the SEEE said.

At the conference, the SEEE also unveiled China’s first standards to assess corporate carbon credits, which financial institutions can use to issue green loans and bonds to companies. Government bodies can also use them to appraise low-carbon firms and industrial parks and they can be used as a reference for businesses’ environmental, social, and governance ratings.

Founded in 2008, the SEEE was China’s first environment and energy trading platform. It piloted carbon emissions trading in the country from 2013.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione