New research from WealthInsight shows Chongqing was the fastest growing city for multi-millionaires in China between 2007 and 2012. Chongqing’s multi-millionaire population grew by nearly 80% in that time period and the city now boasts 96 ultra high net worth individuals with more than $30 million in assets. Chengdu and Fuzhou’s multi-millionaire population also ballooned by 60% in the same period. The latest data shows Chengdu has 120 multi-millionaires and Fuzhou has 67.

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China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the country’s largest oil and gas producer and supplier, said it has started building the country’s first dedicated shale gas pipeline in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. The 92.8-km pipeline will link gas wells in the Changning block to an existing gas line that leads to neighboring Yunnan Province, according to a report posted on the CNPC’s website (www.cnpc.com.cn). The new pipeline is designed to have a daily transport volume of 4.5 million cubic meters.

Chinese asset management firm Citic Capital Holdings Ltd. has raised $683 million for a fund focusing on retail properties in China, underscoring continued investor enthusiasm for the country’s real estate sector. Citic Capital has already invested $250 million of the new fund into three projects, including a shopping mall in Changsha in China’s Hunan province, another in Hefei in Anhui province and a third in Shanghai, according to its press release Monday. Construction on the latter two projects will start in the third quarter.

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The Chinese government has ordered firms in heavy-polluting industries to cut emissions by 30% by 2017. Under the new rules companies will be legally obliged to improve their pollution control equipment and will be penalised for excess emissions. Analysts said enforcement of the targets was likely to fall to local governments.

Chinese companies that have long faced relatively low environmental costs will have to figure out efficient ways to cut carbon dioxide emissions as a market mechanism is right around the corner. The country’s first pilot carbon-trading program for cutting greenhouse gas emissions will make its formal debut on Tuesday in Shenzhen, the southern city in Guangdong province that has long been a leader in China’s reforms. The Shenzhen pilot program is expected to hasten the launch of pilots in other regions. The central government has designated four other cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and two provinces to roll out pilot carbon-trading programs by 2014.

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