Twelve months later, in December 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was signed creating binding commitments for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions among industrialised countries. It also created the Flexibility Mechanisms, Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), that enabled the creation and use of carbon credits from greenhouse gas emission reduction projects. Carbon trading gradually evolved from being a niche environmental activity to becoming a global market that in 2010 mobilised over €120 billion, including trades under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the UN flexibility mechanisms. As carbon markets evolved, Moura Costa was particularly interested in making investors and analysts incorporate the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on company valuations. In 1999, he co-ordinated the development of the carbon trading component of Australian Plantation Timber, a forestry investment fund, the first time ‘carbon value’ was included in an investment prospectus. Gradually, investor awareness of climate and environmental issues increased, and as a result of that (and contributing to this trend) a series of companies in the carbon market sector floated on stock exchanges in 2004-2006. The adoption of binding emission reduction commitments by the Kyoto Protocol created a positive environment for more carbon offset project development companies to be created worldwide. Benefitting from an early mover advantage, EcoSecurities rapidly expanded and established a significant market share. In December 2005, EcoSecurities listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) raising capital for its expansion, one of the first companies in this sector to be listed. As President and COO, Moura Costa coordinated the expansion of the company, from 30 to 300 employees, establishing the firm’s offices in 28 countries worldwide. In 2007, the company raised a second round of capital from the stock markets, and attracted Credit Suisse as a strategic partner. During the period he was involved with EcoSecurities, from 1997 to 2009, the company developed more than 450 CDM projects in over 40 countries and, between them, using over 20 different technologies. The company was a pioneer in many aspects of the sector, including the development of the first project registered by the CDM (the NovaGerar landfill project in Brazil), and the first project to receive CERs (a small-hydro project in Honduras). With a view to broadening its reach, he led the company to develop new divisions focused on specialised technologies related to greenhouse gas abatement. Among them, EcoMethane, a division specialised in the creation of projects for the collection and destruction of methane from landfill sites, and a division for the development of N2O abatement projects, focusing on nitric acid factories.