Business no longer presents a monolithic front against the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. Even in the US, where business lobbies have vociferously attacked the cost of the treaty, there has been a significant shift in industrys approach to the issue.

"Business attitudes have changed a lot," says Philip Clapp, the president of the National Environmental Trust, an environmental group. "What is happening is like tectonic plates moving."

The trust recently commissioned a survey of Fortune 1000 companies that found 37 per cent of executives "very" or "somewhat" favourable to the Kyoto Protocol. The remainder were split between being opposed to the treaty and having no opinion.

For many industries, cutting pollution is not just a cost; it is also a business opportunity. Companies are developing new markets, strategies and technologies to combat climate change.

For example, new financial instruments are being developed to improve the cost-effectiveness of emissions cuts. This week Arthur Andersen, Credit Lyonnais and Natsource, the US energy broker, teamed up to create an international "carbon bank" to serve the developing market in emissions trading. This allows companies that reduce their carbon emissions beyond their allotted targets to sell their excess "credits" to companies that cannot reach their targets.

Experimental deals are already under way. This week TransAlta, a Calgary-based electricity company, announced a carbon-reduction credit sale - equivalent to one years emissions from 27,800 cars - to Murphy Oil, a US oil company.

Brokers believe that this fledgling market for emissions trades could eventually be worth billions of dollars. "The greenhouse gas trading market, although embryonic, is expected to become one of the largest commodity markets in the world," says Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company involved in emissions trading.

Agriculture and forestry companies could also be direct beneficiaries of the Kyoto Protocol. They foresee a large potential market if governments agree to encourage tree planting and other activities that remove carbon dioxide from the air.

Another potential business opportunity from the Kyoto Protocol is incentives for manufacturers to export "clean" technology to the developing world.

The US Agency for International Development, a government development agency, predicts that the market for such technologies and services in developing countries could grow to Pounds 36bn by 2010.

The shift to a more energy-efficient economy will also create winners. "Whatever regulatory systems emerge, some companies stand to make money from the changes," said the Harvard Business Review in July. It highlights makers of industrial process controls, such as Honeywell and ABB, as beneficiaries.

Large car companies, which have the capability of developing less-polluting cars using fuel cells, could also benefit. "GM and other large automakers such as Ford see climate change as an opportunity to gain advantages over their less technologically sophisticated rivals," said the Harvard Business Review.

Opportunities are unevenly distributed within industries. The energy industry, which will be particularly affected by emission curbs, is divided in its attitude to the Kyoto Protocol, according to a survey by Wood Mackenzie, an energy research company.

"While there may be a few losers, notably in the coal industry, most companies are clearly waking up to the new business opportunities in low-emission technologies," it said this week.

Most industries do not stand to lose - or gain - as much as the energy industry. But they are universally concerned about reducing the cost of the Kyoto Protocol. That is why large companies are engaged in behind-the-scenes lobbying to ensure that the maximum possible flexibility is built into the Kyoto Protocol. "The goal in The Hague should be a solution that meets both environmental and economic needs," says the International Chamber of Commerce.

Whether curbing emissions is viewed as an opportunity or a cost, businesses see it as an issue they cannot ignore. When business leaders met at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, they voted global climate change the most pressing issue confronting the worlds business community.