Elshinebal, a 50-year-old farmer in Tacheng, a city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, used to burn coal for heating and cooking in his suburban bungalow and describes his coal-laden life back then as "dusty".
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued a regulation on carbon emissions trading, along with an allocation plan for emissions quotas on Jan 5. The regulation and the plan will take effect on Feb 1.
China has sent a strong signal that it will ramp up efforts to curb carbon emissions with a vow to include climate impact in the nation's environmental impact assessment.