Carbon Trade Exchange links with Winrock’s American Carbon Registry
SYDNEY; LONDON; ARLINGTON, Va. (Jan. 10, 2011) — The Carbon Trade Exchange and Winrock International’s American Carbon Registry announced a new partnership today that demonstrates a commitment to take voluntary carbon offset trading to a new level.
Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX), the world’s first web-based electronic platform for spot trading of voluntary carbon credits, and the American Carbon Registry (ACR), the first U.S. carbon offset standard organization and project registry, will interface to trade ACR’s entire range of diverse credits. Once technical interface is complete by the end of January, ACR’s premium credits can be traded electronically around the globe. The listing of ACR credits will provide broader options and market access to buyers and sellers via CTX’s unique web-based trading platform, on which credits are also offered from Gold Standard and Voluntary Carbon Standard.
Agreed to on the sidelines of COP16 in Cancun and signed on New Year’s Eve, the deal between the two organizations proves their mutual commitment to making 2011 the year voluntary carbon offset trading grows to record levels. By working together to build the market, CTX and ACR are demonstrating that business is taking the initiative to combat climate change and spur innovation in the carbon market.
“To achieve the emissions reductions we need to avoid catastrophic climate change, we need global technology that any business can use easily, and quality offsets that remove any doubt of the process,” said Wayne Sharpe, CEO of Carbon Trade Exchange. “A carbon credit is a financial mechanism to move money from those creating the problem to those solving it. American Carbon Registry has led the way in science-based offset certification and registration in North America long before many others. We are proud to interface with a U.S. carbon icon.”
“We are extremely excited to partner with Carbon Trade Exchange to offer ACR-registered carbon offsets to the global market,” commented Mary Grady, ACR director of marketing. “Carbon finance is essential to stimulate wide-scale development of emissions reduction projects. Providing an exchange option will boost voluntary carbon market participation beyond over-the-counter trading and increase market transparency and liquidity. The partnership demonstrates ACR’s mission of harnessing the power of markets to protect the environment.”
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About Carbon Trade Exchange
Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX) is the world’s first truly global electronic platform for spot trading of the world’s leading voluntary carbon credits. CTX aims to provide a trusted marketplace where businesses can buy emissions commodities with confidence in the quality and origin of the products being sold. The CTX platform allows buyers to search for credits based on vintage, credit standard, project type and country of origin. The existence of CTX will make it easier and cheaper for companies to offset as an effective means of going carbon neutral. It provides one easy interface on which to buy credits and track prices, helping to mainstream the voluntary market by enabling developers to have a clearer price signal to make investment decisions and giving buyers greater confidence and choice.
CTX operates from offices in London, Australia and New York and has a dynamic and highly experienced management team supported by a global board of directors, led by founder and CEO, Wayne Sharpe. Sharpe’s passionate commitment to combating global warming led to the conception and development of the CTX model, using 20 years of knowledge and experience gained by building Bartercard into the world’s largest credit unit exchange: 110 offices worldwide with over $25 billion traded.
About the American Carbon Registry
The nonprofit American Carbon Registry (ACR), an enterprise of Winrock International, is a leading carbon offset program recognized for its strong standards for environmental integrity. Founded in 1996 as the GHG Registry by Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Resources Trust, ACR has 15 years of experience in the development of rigorous, science-based carbon offset standards and methodologies, as well as in carbon offset issuance, serialization and transparent online transaction and retirement reporting. As the first private voluntary GHG registry in the world, ACR has set the bar in the global voluntary carbon market for offset quality and operational transparency. www.americancarbonregistry.org
Contacts:
Wayne Sharpe, Carbon Trade Exchange, +61 412 147 697 or +44 79 0997 5488 or wayne.sharpe@carbontradexchange.com
Mary Grady, American Carbon Registry, + 1 805 884 1961 or mgrady@winrock.org
Nick Mann, Complete Media Group, +44 20 7420 3550 or nick@completemediagroup.co.uk