The council's "Gold and climate change" report acknowledged there was relatively little consistent data on gold's carbon footprint. It said while its analysis was "very much a starting point", gold could help reduce the carbon footprint of an investment portfolio.

The report found the gold production process used a relatively high level of energy to bring finished gold to market but due to gold's scarcity, it was produced in far smaller quantities.

"Gold is also valuable and, when analysed on a ‘per US$ value' basis, our findings indicate gold has amongst the lowest emissions intensity of all metals and mined products," the industry body said.

It cited examples of gold miners taking steps to reduce their emissions, including Goldcorp's decision to go electric rather than diesel-powered at its Borden underground mine in Ontario, and Iamgold adding solar power for its Essakane mine in Burkina Faso.

On top of the industry's steps to reduce emissions, the WGC said technologies - including using gold nanomaterials - had potential in applications that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Furthermore, recent research into how an investment in gold may potentially help reduce the carbon footprint of an investor's portfolio opens up a promising new area of study worthy of closer examination," the report said.