The turmoil in the financial world notwithstanding, 2008 saw a doubling of the global carbon market to an estimated over $126 billion, according to the latest World Bank report `State and Trends of the Carbon Market Report'.

The finding of the report, which is based on data from trading of European Union Allowances (EUAs) under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and from transactions completed under the Kyoto Protocol's mechanisms, including clean development mechanism (CDM), demonstrates the importance of the carbon market on a global scale.