In December 2021 over 6,000 CDM Project proponents received emails from the UNFCCC inviting them to list inventory on CTX, to satisfy cashed up buyer demand. Not only CERs but increased treasure troves of Verra VCS and Gold Standard credits have been uncovered and millions of dollars in funds in the CTX Exchange escrow accounts have been flowing to projects and credit owners in a record-breaking quarter.
Buyers on CTX range from large trading houses to small reseller brokers (offsets for smaller companies) to large corporations buying direct. So, these aren’t numbers flipping on a screen – not derivatives or futures, they are verified issued credits being sold to offset emissions.
In addition, CTX signed up over 60 new trading members – buyers and sellers.
New Offices – Barcelona, Spain and Santiago, Chile
The expansion of CTX continues with a new team being established in Spain led by our Head of Customer Service and Trading. We have also recruited a highly experienced Business Development Manager for South America and expect similar expansion in Q1 of 2022, in India and Asia (Singapore and/or Hong Kong).
Price Bubbles continue into 2022?
When did the Voluntary Market start to get controlled by press releases or paid articles? The VCM inventory shortages in the 2 major credit standards continued into the New Year but we have yet to see evidence of all projects getting the lion’s share of the inflated prices from hybrid screen-based credits. Will we see the big Investors’/Banks, who purchased tens of millions of credits last year ‘release those’ and pop that bubble?
Seeing announcements, where tens of millions of ‘carbon units’ traded on some platforms but only a few hundred thousand actual credits used as offsets is troubling, as that’s not really what the Carbon Market is all about.
As is the constant stream of implications that some new ‘higher power’ is going to determine what is a High-Quality Offset, as if someone with a years’ experience and clear vested interests invented the term.
World first credits issued and listed on CTX
London; Reykjavik; Barcelona; Brisbane: A world leading new Carbon Registry and Credit standard, The International Carbon Registry (ICR) was introduced in November 2021 during COP26 in Glasgow UK. The ICR’s Credits use world recognised requirements for registration and ICR uses unique new technology from Global Environment Markets (GEM) which provides electronic registration for climate projects and issuances of high-quality carbon credits. The electronic registration, issuance and trading of carbon credits are the key components in the evolving carbon marketplace as outlined in the TSVCM task force.
This International Carbon Registry is a modern carbon registry connected to Carbon Trade Exchange platform facilitating global fully electronic access to the emerging carbon market 24/7/365. The registry also acts as a platform for transfers of carbon credits to organizations aiming to offset emissions effectively and transparently.
In another unique world first the newest carbon credits were originated from Biodiesel Plants based in Spain, from production plants which produce Biodiesel with 100% Waste Based Oils, second-generation Biofuels. The plants have fully sustainable production and are certified according to ISCC EU scheme recognized for compliance with Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (RED II). The projects were originally developed according to UNFCCC CDM methodology number ACM0017 V3.1 following the requirements in ISO 14064-2 and validated by an independent Certification Body CGN Certification.
The CTX parent company, Global Environmental Markets (GEM) owns all the IP for CTX and GEMs’ Registries, which are fully compliant with the Paris Agreement (and Article 6) and are built on cutting edge infrastructure using Microsoft Azure’s most advanced Data Security technology., The ICR Registry is the first of a long list of credit standards engaged, with over 20 nations queuing up to launch National Carbon Meta-Registries in 2022 /23.
The International Carbon Registry (ICR) credit standard used world class standards certification, a unique blend of CDM, ISO 14064 with the Highest levels of Additionality and Permanence certification, making its credits equal to the world’s best. By accepting a huge range of existing and new methodologies ICR is working with projects across the globe, ranging from Renewable Energy to Biomass to Forestry with ambitions to be one of the world’s leading Credit Standards and Registries.
CERs update – its flying!
As all our readers know we were the first to start trading CDM then CTX CERs for Voluntary offsetting at scale back in 2017 – a process that took over 2 ½ years to contract with the UNFCCC. CDM CERs are cancellation only and CTX CERs (about to be renamed UN CERs) can be delivered to a National Registry or cancelled on behalf of buyers by CTX.
The CTX delivery of funds for credits sold for Q4 of 2021 is below
Credit Standards and Registries - Watch this space
Over the course of 2021 multiple new or relatively new credit standards appeared or became more prominent.
There have been many drivers behind this trend – and most have little or nothing to do with any ‘Taskforce’ (there are now at least 5 from different groups/bodies). Some of these were able to gain accreditation under CORSIA –(although I am baffled that ICAO approved any credit standard that hasn’t got any track record of issuance or retirements?). Some have gone back to Registry operators, who previously lost (for very good reasons) the contracts as registry operators for VCS or Gold Standard, but many others have built their own Registries.
For the past year GEM and CTX have been doing Due Diligence on and engaging with multiple new credit standards and we anticipate we should be listing and trading at least 3 of these in the coming months, from South America and India. For obvious reason we can’t and won’t trade credits, where the process involves Vertical integration models with vested interests or are focused on vaguely worded ‘bundles. However, we have identified Highly credible credits standards with quality projects and proper independent registry technology they control.
Carbon Exchange- the new thing everyone says they have
When this journey started for Carbon Trade eXchange in 2007 at COP13 in Bali, which I attended myself (Wayne Sharpe), I was still the Chairman and CEO of Bartercard International, which had over 130 Offices worldwide and had traded over $40 Billion in B2B Goods and Services credits for businesses globally. Before I sold Bartercard and focused on CTX, I spent 18 months on R&D. There were many ‘Carbon Exchanges’ around but none focused on the Voluntary Carbon Market and despite having a huge exchange with 20 platforms which IP I still own, I saw we needed to design and build a NEW exchange specially for this market. Even today there is a lot of confusion between commoditised ‘allowance’ carbon markets versus carbon credits/ offsets. Allowance markets are dominated by futures exchanges and prices and volumes have little or no relevance to offsets.
Lately there has been a proliferation of new ‘Carbon Exchanges’ supposedly replicating or reinventing a new version of what CTX has done for over 12 years, however there is a difference between a ‘Trading Platform’ and an Exchange’ https://www.investopedia.
CTX remains a pure Spot Exchange for High Quality Voluntary Carbon Credits globally across all project types and a small ‘exclusive’ curated list of reputable Credit Standards. Just because we make it look easy, doesn’t mean it is.
And throwing lots of money (or losing it) at marketing is no guarantee of success. Bartercard successfully competed against a multi-VC funded AMEX operation called BigVine in 2002, which lost $130 million then failed and closed.
Over a decade later I sold out of Bartercard in a Bank Funded MBO in 2012 so CTX could be where it is today.
