In the town center of Anji County, Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, a large digital screen displays real-time dynamic data on the environment, such as air quality and biodiversity. The information is collected by more than 22,000 sensors scattered across the county, measuring both carbon dioxide (CO2) flux and weather conditions.

On a tower monitoring CO2 flux, meaning the rate at which CO2 moves between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere, precision sensors track every "breath" of Anji's bamboo forests, calculating exactly how much CO2 they absorb and store. Over the past decade, the county's carbon sequestration per hectare has risen to 6.6 tonnes. Known as "carbon storage champions," these bamboo forests generate carbon credits that can be traded, delivering more than 28 million yuan (about $3.7 million) annually in income to local bamboo farmers.

Anji is also the birthplace of the "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept – known as the "Two Mountains" theory first put forward by Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2005.

The theory centers around the core precept that protecting the environment can be a driver for high-quality economic development.

"The carbon market is the most direct way of turning ecological value into economic value," said Wang Jun, founder of Climate Future China, in an interview with CGTN.

China's expanding carbon market

China's carbon trading market is a key lever for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and meeting its "dual carbon" goals: reaching the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

Inaugurated in 2021, the National Carbon Emission Trading System (National ETS), has now become the world's largest market in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions covered, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) stated in a report released in 2024. The National ETS includes 2,257 key emitting entities, covering about 5.1 billion tonnes of annual CO2 emissions – over 40 percent of the country's total CO2 emissions.

In January 2024, China introduced the National Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading Market (National Voluntary Market) to complement the ETS. The compliance market caps emissions for major polluters, while the voluntary market invites participation from companies, communities and individuals. The two operate independently but are linked through an offsetting mechanism, forming the backbone of China's National Carbon Market.

As of July 15, the market reported a cumulative trading volume of carbon allowances of 465 million tonnes and a total turnover of 27 billion yuan ($3.71 billion), according to MEE.