New York, the financial hub of the U.S. has endured a tumultuous year, with many giant institutions either collapsing or surviving only by the mercy of government bailouts. The knock-on effect from Wall Street has not yet fully been felt, with the unemployment figure rising to a record 10.3% in New York City, CIG research has revealed. That means just over 1 in every 10 people is jobless.
Amid all this gloom and uncertainty however, there is one financial market on the brink of delivering considerable growth. An ever increasing number of investors and financiers both in New York and across the globe see the trading and reduction of carbon as poised to become one of the greatest commodity markets ever.
CIG has learned that financial experts and analysts are predicting this market growing to as much as $3 trillion by 2020 from just over $100 billion today, putting it ahead of the present crude oil industry in the not too distant future. With huge volumes of companies and energy producers buying and selling permits to emit carbon, transaction fees for exchanges and clearing alone are likely to top nearly half a billion dollars.
If Congress manages to pass the present proposed climate bill, New York's financial talent, expertise and institutions are uniquely poised to supply the expertise for a new commodities market of this size.
Foundations are already in place as entities like the New York Stock Exchange, J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and the new Green Exchange have been developing carbon trading platforms or growing their environmental trading desks. There are almost 100 funds already focused on green investments according to CIG sources.
