China’s official news agency said Monday that the country will start a pilot carbon emissions trading project, and gradually set up a carbon emissions trading market.

The Xinhua news agency quoted Xie Zhenhua, a top climate official, as saying Sunday that the plan would employ preferential and punitive tax polices to provide incentives to develop energy conservation technologies and products.

Xie told the 2011 Eco-Forum Global in the city of Guiyang that China would also continue to boost financial support for green energy and manage growth in energy-intensive industries.

The World Bank announced in June it had awarded grants to China and seven other countries to study the establishment of carbon-trading systems. The other countries are Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey.

Australia has introduced legislation to tax some carbon emissions as a first step toward setting up a carbon trading system.

Xie gave no timetable or other specifics on how the system would work in China.