China's first voluntary carbon emission deal has been reached at the China-Beijing Environmental Exchange.
Tianping Auto Insurance from Shanghai has purchased the 8,026 tons of carbon reduction index accrued during the Green Driving period of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for CNY277,600. And by doing so, TAI has become the first Chinese company to voluntarily purchased carbon emission for carbon neutrality.
The Green Driving carbon reduction initiative was launched in 2008 by the China Association for NGO Cooperation and Environmental Defense from the United States. Verified by the Institute of Transportation Engineering of Tsinghua University, the initiative was joined by round 100 companies and undertakings as well as over 80,000 ordinary citizens during the driving limiting period and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 8,895.06 tons. The amount of carbon dioxide was later confirmed by CBEE and formally listed for transaction in December 2008, hence becoming the first voluntary carbon reduction item publicly licensed in China.
Mei Dewen, the general manager of CBEE, stated that more than 30 million tons of carbon has been transacted in the past year via the platform which now has such famous Chinese companies as China National Offshore Oil Company, China Guodian, and China Everbright as shareholders.