China will launch a satellite in 2016 dedicated to monitoring the global distribution of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which will help reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

The first of its kind in China, the satellite, tentatively called TanSat, is part of a Ministry of Science and Technology's global CO2 observation satellite program and will be assembled before May, according to a statement published by the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

After TanSat enters a Sun-synchronous orbit, it will detect and generate data on global CO2 emissions that will help China's energy-conservation and emission-reduction efforts and support the nation's stance in international CO2 emission talks, the statement said.