BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - China issued new guidelines on Monday to help standardise the way big industrial firms measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, in a step towards the launch of a national carbon market scheduled for the middle of next year.

China has pledged to bring its CO2 emissions to a peak by around 2030, and firms could be obliged to participate in a nationwide carbon trading scheme by as early as 2016.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Monday released new technical guidelines detailing how oil and coal producers should measure and report their emissions.

Instructions have now been published for 14 industrial sectors, including glass, cement, aviation, petrochemicals, electricity, and iron and steel.

Under the mandatory reporting system, companies that emitted more than 13,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or consumed energy amounting to more than 5,000 tonnes of standard coal in 2010 are obligated to report their emission data, according to an NDRC statement.

The move will enable the Chinese government to create a statistical system for greenhouse gas emissions and support the establishment of a national carbon market, the NDRC said on its website (www.ndrc.gov.cn).

Six industrial sectors are expected to be included when the national market is first launched next year, following a three-year pilot trading phase.

The coverage threshold for market participants will be first set at 26,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, according to a speech delivered last week from a senior market designer Jiang Zhaoli. (Reporting By Kathy Chen and David Stanway; Editing by Richard Pullin)