NEIL ECKERT gave up his job as an insurance industry executive last year to dedicate his life to saving the planet. But unlike many sandal-wearing green campaigners, his good intentions did not come at a price. Rather, they have turned him into a multimillionaire.

Mr Eckert, 44, who lives in Sussex with his wife and children, is one of a new breed of green entrepreneurs who are living proof of Tony Blair’s claims that tackling climate change is as much an opportunity as a threat. The company he co-founded and where he is chief executive, Climate Exchange PLC, dominates the market in carbon emissions trading, part of the green goldrush that was created by the Kyoto climate change treaty.

“It’s an incredibly exciting space to be in,” he said. “It is a lot more fun than insurance, I can tell you. It’s so newsworthy and so important.”

From last year companies in Europe have been given permits allowing them to pump out a certain amount of greenhouse gases. They can trade these permits, selling those they do not need or buying them if they increase their energy use.

There are eight carbon exchanges in Europe, where permits can be traded but Climate Exchange, based in London, has cornered 80 per cent of the market. Last year the company traded 95 million tonnes of carbon, rising to 257 million in the first eight months of this year. As a sign of how serious the business is taken, the top merchant bank, Goldman Sachs, spent £12.2 million two months ago to buy 10 per cent of it. Climate Exchange is worth more than £160 million, with Mr Eckert’s 5 per cent share worth just over £8 million.

But the carbon emissions market is only just starting. In Europe it is expected to more than double from €9.4 billion (£6.3 billion) last year to €22 billion this year, according to the analysts Point Carbon. But if the whole world eventually follows suit, as campaigners expect, the value of permits traded could head towards €1,000 billion a year.

“If it ever starts trading on a global basis, it could become one of the biggest commodities markets in the world,” Mr Eckert told The Times. Like other commodities markets, the one in carbon emission permits has its ups and downs. A permit to emit a tonne of carbon collapsed from €30 at the end of last year to €8 and has now risen back to €11. The new green Klondike has attracted a flood of interest from merchant banks, hedge funds and financiers.

James Cameron helped negotiate the Kyoto treaty, and then immediately set up Climate Change Capital to take advantage of the markets the treaty created. In three years, it has shot up from 3 employees to 100 and has just announced a 1 billion euro fund to invest in energy saving projects around the world.

Mr Cameron insists that the creation of the carbon markets is essential for combating climate change. “It’s what we hoped for. Investment power is power, and you need power to make a change. There is huge vested interest in the status quo, and to shift that you need power” he said.

Lionel Fretz worked in the City for 15 years, but gave it up to sail around the world before coming back to set up Climate Change Capital. He left last year to found Carbon Capital Markets, which now trades about 2 million tonnes of carbon a month and invests in the other markets created by Kyoto. “I care fundamentally about the issue, but I could see the opportunities. I could apply my skills in a new market,” he said. “It has exceeded all our expectations. We have got hundreds of clients. The whole area is very much alive.”

The new breed of eco-millionaires have not left the traditionally impoverished environmental campaigners too green with envy. They may be lining their pockets, but at least they are helping to save the planet.

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