Merrill Lynch has signed an agreement with Guohua Energy Investment Co., Ltd to buy the latter's carbon emission reductions for five wind power projects till March 2013.

The five projects are located in Shandong Province, Hebei Province, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the total installed capacity being 247.5 megawatts. They are planned to be put into operation in 2009, and will reduce emissions by the equivalent of two million tons of carbon dioxide by the end of 2012.

Abyd Karmali, managing director and global head of carbon emissions markets at Merrill Lynch said that currently major participants in carbon emissions trading are power companies and energy sectors in Europe and the USA, but more and more hedge funds are involved.

Guohua was founded in 1998, and is a state-owned company under the control of Shenhua Group,which mainly focuses on investment and development of renewable energy such as wind power.

The carbon emissions markets of Merrill Lynch is located in London and has run more than ten projects worldwide. The carbon trading deal with Guohua is said to be a large one for Merrill Lynch.