Trading Commences on the Dubai Financial Market’s Carbon Credits Pilot Platform

The much-awaited carbon credits trading pilot by Dubai Financial Market (DFM) will go live today, debuting at the COP28. Institutional investors will be able to buy and sell with starting today December 5th to December 11th, 2023, with the offsetting period ending on 10th January 2024.

The inaugural pilot will see the active participation of more than 24 esteemed UAE companies and project developers, including Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), DP World, Dubai Municipality, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Emirates NBD, Majid Al Futtaim, SHUUA Capital, Al Ansari Financial Services, Emaar, Salik, SEE Holding, FIVE Holdings, Gulf Cryo and Tabreed among others. DFM has worked closely with Dubai Future Foundation as a partner for the pilot. The transactions will be executed through 6 DFM brokers, namely Al Ramz Capital, Arqaam Securities, BHM Capital, EFG Hermes Emirates NBD Securities and FAB Securities. Clearing and settlement processes will be handled in USD by Dubai Clear and the Dubai Central Securities Depository (Dubai CSD), with global daily price reference provided by leading pricing agencies such as OPIS, a Dow Jones company.

The carbon credits traded on DFM will be supplied by DEWA, First Abu Dhabi Bank and MyCarbon, coming from internationally certified carbon projects around the world. All projects have been verified by widely recognized standard setters such as VERRA or the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

This strategic initiative places the financial market in a leading role in climate action, serving as a regulated platform to explore project capital raising, carbon credit trading, and safekeeping—all in alignment with the UAE Government's net-zero by 2050 objective.