The project, Xinhua reports, eventually aims to plant 36,000 acres of carbon-sink forests over the next 20 years.
The State Forestry Bureau has approved the first batch of projects, jointly funded by the local government and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), in Beijing and the provinces of Heilongjiang, Gansu, Hebei, Hubei, Zhejiang and Guangdong.
Carbon sink forests are intended to reduce the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Every new cubic metre of forest, the report said, absorbs 1.83 tonnes of carbon dioxide and emits 1.62 tonnes of oxygen on average.
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