(Yicai Global) June 22 -- CNOOC Gas and Power Group has agreed to purchase two ships full of carbon neutral liquefied natural gas from Shell International Eastern Trading, marking the first time the Chinese mainland has imported green gas.

The China National Offshore Oil subsidiary will be able to generate a year’s worth of clean electricity for nearly 300,000 households, The Paper reported yesterday.

Carbon neutral refers to the offsetting of carbon emissions through the planting of trees and conservation of energy, and other methods, to result in zero net emissions of carbon dioxide. CNOOC Gas & Power and Shell will generate carbon credit for the emissions resulting from the order by participating in nature projects worldwide, including some in China’s Qinghai province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that would give forest farmers more income sources, create jobs and reduce poverty while improving the environment.

Carbon credit represents the right to an entity earns to emit a measured amount of carbon in the carbon trading market by reducing carbon emissions through efficient energy use, reducing pollution or development under the conditions approved by the United Nations or UN-recognized emission reduction organizations. Multinational technology firms criticized by environmental organizations for their high-energy consumption have recently been particularly keen to invest in clean energy projects and urge their partners to use green energy or purchase carbon to offset their emissions.

China National Offshore Oil will hold a public online auction via the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange in the new future to give more domestic natural gas users to obtain the carbon neutral fuel, the exchange’s Chairman Ye Guobiao said. Selling green LNG in this way would be a world first, he added.

Editor: James Boynton