Trading in carbon emissions has created a global carbon market estimated to be worth more than $30 billion this year, a report said.

And companies in the GCC could tap into this market if a cost were placed on carbon emissions and a value on emission reductions, to create a trade in the resulting allowances or credits, according to the Nordic-based think-tank Point Carbon.

"This multi-billion dollar market opportunity has emerged because pollution reduction credits are so valuable that there are entire new businesses, and networks of businesses, created purely to create these reductions,” Rod Beckstrom, co-founder of The Environmental Markets Network and a speaker at DIFC week in November, was quoted as saying by Khaleej Times.

"We are seeing phenomenal innovations at every level of industry, with opportunities at each level of the investment cycle. Venture capital investment opportunities abound in clean technology, and many funds are emerging to back new clean and green technologies that clean up the environment," he said

According to Point Carbon's research, the global carbon market in 2006 saw transactions for 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared to 799 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005, worth $12 billion. The think-tank also predicts that the carbon market will double to reach 2.4 billion tonnes this year. 

The future for carbon continues to look bright, according to Point Carbon. It believes that a "new and broader climate agreement is likely post-2012". And with US re-engagement and Chinese commitments, its research says: "We expect that we will see the emergence of a truly global carbon market in the years to come."