DOHA: Qatar is to host a groundbreaking conference to showcase the country’s carbon dioxide emission reduction initiatives.

Titled “Carbon World Doha 2009”, the two-day conference will highlight Qatar’s emerging government-industry partnership to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as well as address key issues in Qatar’s evolving carbon market.

The meeting, scheduled for April 27 and 28 is being organised by the Centre for Management Technology (CMT) with the support of Qatar Petroleum (QP). It will be the latest government initiative to address the high emission rate in Qatar and other GCC countries.

After the UNDP revealed in 2007 that Qatar has a very high rate of carbon emissions, the country has been aggressively pushing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The UNDP report had said that Qatar’s per capita CO2 emissions is one of the highest in the world at 79.3 tonnes per capita, well above ninth-ranked United States.

Qatar was the first GCC country to join the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) project, aiming at reducing CO2 emissions by exercising tight control on gas flaring, a major contributor to the country’s CO2 emissions.

Qatar Investment Authority was also the first to confirm its investment of £150m in British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s £250m venture capital fund for renewable energy projects.

Qatar has also launched an ambitious $70m, 10-year joint research project with Shell, Qatar Petroleum, Imperial College London and Qatar Science and Technology Park. The project will involve the investigation of carbon capture and sequestration in carbonate reservoirs by a team of 20 Imperial College London researchers.

The “Carbon World Doha 2009” will examine and map the latest GCC polices, research and economic initiatives in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, expanding carbon capture and storage capabilities and providing an active carbon trading platform while maintaining the GCC countries’ position as the world’s largest oil and gas producers.

The meeting will discuss critical issues like integrating business with a low-carbon economy, the government’s perspectives in carbon management and policy initiatives, managing emission reduction and economic growth, perspectives in emergent trends in the global carbon market, developing sustainable development goals with carbon management, climate change mitigation and its challenges and initiatives; carbon trading trends and evolving patterns and voluntary carbon market prospects.