Carbon trading ahead of COP28: Dubai’s biggest lender, Emirates NBD, is introducing compliant carbon market trading to help businesses manage their carbon emissions, according to a statement. The carbon contract trading facility would allow clients to access a growing asset class with an estimated value of USD 850 bn along six global emission trading schemes, it added.

How does it work? The facility will follow systems set by the European Union’s Emission Trading System (ETS) and the UK’s Emission Trading Scheme. The ETS’ scheme adheres to the “cap and trade” system, where corporations are given a cap on the amount of carbon emissions they can emit. If this cap is exceeded, they are obliged to buy allowances from other businesses that have released less emissions.

All part of a bigger plan: The UAE plans to launch regulating carbon credit trading exchanges and clearing houses ahead of COP28, the statement notes. The UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators launched the UAE Carbon Alliance in June in partnership with Singapore-based carbon trading exchange AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) in a bid to establish a framework for carbon markets. The alliance was launched a year after the Abu Dhabi Global Market said it was working with ACX on launching the world’s first fully regulated carbon trading exchange.

Carbon trading is the new cool in MENA: Saudi Arabia’s Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC) — established by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and the Saudi Tadawul Group — plans to launch a carbon trading exchange early next year. The announcement came as the RVCMC sold 2 mn tons of carbon credits last month in what the company described as the largest-ever voluntary carbon credit auction. A carbon market in Egypt is also in the works, with the Financial Regulatory Authority forming in April a committee to supervise and regulate the country’s soon-to-be launched voluntary carbon market.