China has kicked off a nationwide pilot program to trade green power, in a bid to encourage renewable energy consumption to support the country's low-carbon transition.

The program, launched Tuesday, permits electricity generators to sell green power directly to end-users. Previously, China did not have such a system to trade green power.

"(The project) aims to guide consumption of green power in a market-oriented way, which will reflect its environmental value," a spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planning body, said in a statement released Tuesday (link in Chinese). "Revenue generated through the (program) will be used to support the development and use of green power to better promote the creation of a new power system."