Doha Brokerage and Financial Services Limited (DBFS), associate of Doha Bank yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bunge Investment Management through its affiliate company Ecoinvest carbon SA (Ecoinvest) for a variety of services related to mitigating carbon emissions.

The agreement covers three pronged areas including carbon emissions risk management services, carbon emissions advisory services and carbon emissions credit origination services in the Indian and Middle Eastern markets.

Ecoinvest is a leading international advisory firm specialising in the development of emissions related projects worldwide. The company has been a leader in the identification, registration and commercialisation of emission reductions, as defined by the Kyoto Protocol with a team of seasoned professionals dedicated to mitigating the effects of green house gases within the context of minimising economic costs and maximising investor returns.

Speaking at a news conference, R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank and also Chairman of DBFS said the three fold service offerings through Ecoinvest will boost the ongoing environmental friendly initiatives currently being undertaken in the Middle Eastern and Indian regions.

With the process of setting up a carbon trading platform at Lusail, the partnership will be merged to it as along term mission and every institution that is trying to add value to carbon neutral process is going to help the whole initiative.

"That is why Ecoinvest will have a seat at Energy City to provide a long-term advisory as well," said Seetharaman.

'This MoU is part of the DBFS ongoing corporate social responsibility initiatives and has positioned DBFS as a pioneer in this business segment in the Middle Eastern and Indian markets," he said.

He said Doha Bank is committed to be an integral part of the green project in Qatar and is strong proponent of green culture and has been working in association with Qatar Petroleum, Green Qatar and other socio-economic organisations to add value to the green mission project.

Brokerage can be an option to do the buying and selling of these carbon emissions at a latter stage, he said and that is "the reason why we have assessment management and brokerage as an integral part of this deal."

"Through asset management we will be in a position to do the investments in sustainable projects, while through the brokerage we can do the emissions sharing, buying and selling."

Emission trading is an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. It is sometimes called cap and trade.