CIG: A brief look at personal carbon credit trading.

Nov. 3, 2009 - PRLog -- Personal carbon credit trading may still be a relatively small and new game, but if one looks at the trend of big business, the industry looks to have huge potential. According to CIG research for example $118 billion carbon credit contracts were traded in the U.S. alone in 2008, with 2009 expecting to see a U.S. figure close to $150 billion for 2009.


U.S. carbon trading could see a sharp increase if the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (Waxman-Markey bill) passes through the Senate and becomes law, taking effect from 2012.


The first investment route would be in carbon trading through CME Group Inc. which is the holding company for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and in June 2009, a record 133,175 environmental contracts were traded by them. Their chief line of trade is carbon emission reduction futures contracts followed by sulfur dioxide futures and options.


The CME Green Exchange is to follow shortly, which is an independent firm, intended as a partnership with major financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and a host of other financial big guns. They too would be offering the same environmental contracts and are presently waiting CFTC approval, CIG has learned.  


The next option is the emerging NYSE Euronext which is a limited way of working the carbon trading market. They own 60 per cent of BlueNext, the European Environmental Exchange, which moves volumes of 5 million tons of carbon emissions a day.


The 3rd and most volatile option is the Climate Exchange PLC., which has traded between 5.75 and 39.50 in the last year alone. Climate Exchange PLC is the holding company of both the European Climate Exchange and the Chicago Climate Exchange. They allege that they are the U.S’s only voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system. Their trading area is primarily carbon sources in North America and Brazil. This exchange, launched in 2003 chiefly trades in all the main greenhouse gasses, namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons, CIG research has shown.

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CIG is an exclusive, members only, off shore, private equity investment firm that provides consulting services to like minded members of the private equity and alternative investment community.