Korea on Tuesday opened its first research center dedicated to the development of new technologies to capture and process carbon dioxide in an effort to transform its battle against global warming into a potentially lucrative business.

The new Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Research Center will spend up to 173 billion won ($150 million) in the next nine years to develop new technologies to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide, a main cause of climate change, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

More specifically, the center will work to develop at least four indigenous technologies that can capture the greenhouse gas before, during or after combustion. The CCS center will also seek to develop ways to transform carbon dioxide into fuel, the ministry said.

The center is part of Korea's ambitious plan to voluntarily cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from its anticipated or business-as-usual levels in 2020.

Seoul is also moving to set up a carbon trading system, under which companies can exchange rights to release greenhouse gases. (Yonhap)