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Turning pollution into profits

Oslo - Global markets could become a leading tool for halting climate change, former US vice-president Al Gore said on Sunday, a day before he was to receive the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

"We have to find a way to enlist the energy and vitality of the market in helping us to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide)," which most scientists agree causes global warming, Gore told reporters at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Pointing out that "more money is allocated by markets in one hour than by all governments in the world in one year," Gore called for taxes on CO2 in each country.

"I am strongly in favour of a CO2 tax," he said, adding that he would also like to see global caps on pollutants and a worldwide emissions trading market.

Experts see carbon trading as one of the most effective ways of combating global warming, by allowing countries that pollute beyond their allowance under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change to buy carbon credits from those countries that have stayed within their target range.

Under the treaty, rich nations can also offset their carbon reduction commitments by funding initiatives in developing countries.

Gore jointly won the 2007 prize with the UN's top climate panel for their work "to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change," according to the citation from the Nobel Committee when it announced the laureates in October.

They will receive the award along with a diploma and combined prize money of 10m Swedish kronor ($1.5m) at a ceremony in Oslo city hall on Monday.

- AFP

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