Operating details of China’s first pilot carbon-trading scheme, in Shenzhen, have been released as it gets ready to launch next month, and as the country prepares to roll out seven pilot schemes by 2014.

The world’s biggest carbon emitter, China is planning to experiment with carbon trading schemes over the next three years as it seeks to cut emissions. Beijing is targeting a 40 per cent reduction in emissions relative to economic output by 2020, from 2005 levels, but hasn’t identified how it will reach that goal.

The Shenzhen Carbon Exchange, the smallest of the seven in terms of total emissions, announced yesterday that its trading scheme would cover 635 industrial and construction companies, accounting for 38 per cent of Shenzhen’s total emissions in 2010. The exchange will launch on June 18.