To get the scheme going, Beijing will widen the difference in electricity tariffs between power-intensive sectors and other industries, Xie Zhenhua, vice-minister of China's economic planner the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), was quoted as saying.

Xinhua did not say when such a scheme will be launched.

Beijing would also improve laws, regulation and taxation policies to encourage energy conservation, and ask financial groups to fund low-carbon emission projects, Xinhua said.

Development of industries such as services, renewable energy and information technology would be welcomed by Beijing, while excessive growth in power-intensive sectors would be discouraged, it added.

Companies and governments around the world are turning to emissions trading as a way to combat climate change and join a world carbon market worth $142 billion last year.

An official from the NDRC had said in April that China would pilot six emissions trading schemes by 2013, and set up a national trading platform by 2015.

Last month, the NDRC reiterated a ban on favourable power tariffs for energy-intensive sectors as the world's second-largest electricity consumer struggles to deal with its worst power crisis in seven years.

Copyright Reuters, 2011