The number of carbon permits traded on China’s pilot emissions market in Shenzhen reached 1.57 million in its first year of operations, or about 5% of the total offered for last year. Shenzhen was the first of seven pilot schemes set up by the authorities, with the final one launched in Chongqing, in a bid to curb its greenhouse gas emissions. For all the seven pilot carbon markets, liquidity has been a problem, with the firms covered by the schemes given little incentive to trade large volumes in the first year. While the market has provided valuable experience for policymakers eyeing a nationwide trading platform, improvements were still required, said Ge Xing’an, Vice Director at the China Emissions Exchange, which runs the Shenzhen market. It caps emissions from 635 firms, some of which had not participated initially, saying they were unhappy about scheme rules and planned to appeal to the government about how their emission targets had been set. On an average, less than 1,500 permits were traded per day before May, but this later exceeded 20,000 tons a day after the city government made it clear that it would fine companies that failed to comply. At the end of the first year, 96% of the companies covered by the scheme had met their targets and the price for permits stood at CNY65 per ton, compared with CNY30 last year.