Mizuho and Climate Impact X join forces to scale international carbon credit market in Asia

• Mizuho to invest in Climate Impact X, joining its founding shareholders DBS Bank, SGX Group, Standard Chartered and GenZero, a decarbonisation investment platform founded by Temasek
• Partnership will support growing demand for carbon credits among companies in Japan
• Aims to facilitate connectivity and drive internationalisation of carbon markets

Singapore and Japan, 28 November 2023 – Mizuho Financial Group and Singapore-based global carbon marketplace and exchange Climate Impact X (CIX) are partnering to jointly cater to growing demand for international carbon credits among companies in Japan. The strategic partnership via investment aims to facilitate cross-border trading and connectivity between markets, which both companies believe are crucial to resolve imbalances in the demand and supply of carbon credits and help to scale the market effectively.

Carbon credits are one of the primary tools available right now that can mobilise additional private financing – at the speed and scale necessary – to help mitigate climate change and build resilience to its impacts. Companies can compensate for their emissions, or contribute to global mitigation efforts, by buying and retiring carbon credits generated from projects that reduce or avoid carbon emissions.

The investment decision stems from Mizuho’s and CIX’s shared belief that carbon credits will play a crucial role in the decarbonisation of Japan; and reinforces Mizuho’s position as a leading institution in responsible financing. Furthermore, it reflects continued confidence in CIX’s vision to bring trust, quality, and increased accessibility to carbon markets through a suite of high-integrity solutions.

Masahiro Kihara, President & Group CEO, Mizuho Financial Group, said, “Mizuho supports customer’s efforts towards achieving a decarbonised society through financial and non-financial means. Carbon credits serve as a mechanism to provide funding for climate action projects and support the overall decarbonisation of society. In addition to contributing to decarbonisation efforts beyond value chains, there is an increasing importance in connecting technologies that achieve carbon removal from the atmosphere with investors to accelerate their implementation in society. Through this investment, we aim to provide our customers with reliable and high-quality carbon credits in partnership with CIX, and contribute to the expansion of the carbon credit market in Asia and beyond.”

Funding from Mizuho will be used to build out CIX’s existing platforms, deepen the company’s offerings for the Japanese market and ultimately expand its regional footprint. This will allow both companies to better serve customers in Japan and beyond, especially those in carbon-intensive sectors.

Mikkel Larsen, Chief Executive Officer of CIX, said, “CIX sees Japan as an increasingly progressive market for decarbonisation solutions, including the use of carbon credits. Having a strong partner in Mizuho will allow us to meaningfully serve customers in the market. Countries rarely have a perfect match in the demand and supply of carbon credits. Enhanced connectivity is therefore important. We recognise the challenges that many leaders and companies around the world face in decarbonising; and therefore the potential for international carbon credits to supplement their efforts.”

Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered and current Chair of the CIX Board of Directors, said, “Carbon markets are a critical piece of the net zero puzzle so it’s imperative that we work together to build a high-integrity carbon market underpinned by science, strong foundations, and trust. Standard Chartered is delighted to support Climate Impact X’s ongoing efforts to enhance the credibility of the market so we can collectively use every tool available to us to reduce and remove carbon from our atmosphere. On behalf of the CIX Board, we are pleased to have Mizuho join us as a partner in advancing our collective goal of scaling the market.”

The investment is subject to shareholder, corporate and regulatory approvals.

Note to Editors:

• CIX adopts a rotational chairperson system, with Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, being the current chairperson of the Board of Directors.

For more information, please contact:

Climate Impact X
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

Mizuho Financial Group
Public Relations Office
Tel: +81-(0)3-5224-2026

• CIX Nature X benchmark successfully passes first IOSCO assurance review by Ernst & Young
• Confirms adherence to IOSCO Principles for Oil Price Reporting Agencies (IOSCO Principles)

Singapore and London, 1 November 2023 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace, auctions house and exchange for trusted carbon credits, has successfully completed the first independent assessment of its alignment with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions Principles for Oil Price Reporting Agencies (IOSCO Principles), with respect to its global nature- based carbon credit benchmark, CIX Nature X (“CNX”).

The external limited assurance review was conducted by professional services firm Ernst & Young, which assessed CIX’s benchmark methodology and governance processes for adherence to the IOSCO Principles. IOSCO is the global standard setter for securities regulation and serves to protect market participants by ensuring fair, efficient and high-integrity market practices.

CIX’s decision to align its benchmarks to the IOSCO Principles from the very first day of publication stems from broad demand in the voluntary carbon market for professionally assessed, robust and data-driven benchmarks, which are priced transparently and consistently in concentrated liquidity sessions within a safe and accessible centralised trading venue.

Julien Hall, Pricing Director at CIX, said, “The adoption of trusted price benchmarks can lead to significant positive change for market participants and markets, including reduction in information asymmetry, fairer and more efficiently priced commercial agreements and a general increase in transparency. They can also catalyse the emergence of innovative new risk management tools such as swaps and futures, contributing to de-risking investments into the sector and encouraging a greater influx of capital. As demonstrated by this successful first audit, CIX is committed to ensuring that its price benchmarks are produced in accordance with the very best global standards.”

The IOSCO Principles provide internationally recognised best practice guidance on governance and control systems for the publication of commodity price benchmarks. It covers various aspects including price assessment methodology, the management of contract and index methodology changes, the data reporting process, supervision of assessors, audit trails, as well as the management and prevention of conflicts of interest.

CIX spot market assessments and benchmarks are published each trading day via CIX Carbon Daily: register your interest here to receive the market intelligence.

Note to Editors:

• Read CIX’s Statement of Compliance with the IOSCO Principles in full here.

For more information, please contact:
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

• Traded volume within CIX Exchange offering crosses 1 million tonnes of carbon credits less than four months following launch
• Average of 40,000 tonnes bid and offered on the CIX Nature X benchmark contract daily
• Over two million tonnes of carbon credits transacted in total across CIX’s core solutions suite

Singapore and London, 10 October 2023 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace, auctions house and exchange for trusted carbon credits, has crossed the 1 million tonne milestone in traded and cleared credits within its CIX Exchange offering. Launched in June 2023, CIX Exchange is one of three core venues established by the company, after CIX Marketplace and CIX Auctions.

Collectively, over two million tonnes of carbon credits have been transacted across CIX’s suite of solutions since the inception of its first venue in March 2022.

Mikkel Larsen, Chief Executive Officer of CIX, said, “Scaling carbon markets at the speed it needs remains challenging in the headwind of negative media coverage, and amid a slowing global economic outlook. The pace of demand recovery is slower than the market had hoped for, but we are encouraged to see a good depth of participation on our venues. This signals to us that our value proposition to enhance trust and transparency in the market is on the right track. Many corporations are rightly concerned about the climate emergency, some remain dedicated supporters of high- quality climate action projects, while others are keeping carbon credits for future action pending further clarity around standards. It is only the beginning for CIX and we will continue to build on our efforts to help scale carbon markets.”

Total traded volume within the CIX Exchange offering comprises transactions that took place both on-screen as well as off-screen via CIX Clear, the clearing and settlement service for privately negotiated transactions.

To date, around 3.5 million tonnes of carbon credits have been bid and offered on CIX Nature X, the company’s first global standard contract series, equating to a daily average of 40,000 tonnes. The average widest bid-offer spread on the contract series during the daily pricing session stands at around USD $0.30 per tonne, tightening to an average spread of around $0.10 per tonne. As of 6 October 2023, 152 transactions totalling 252,000 tonnes of carbon credits had traded and cleared on the CIX’s curated Nature X benchmark contract alone.

Ongoing market uncertainties have reduced end-user demand, creating a knock-on effect on price and the value of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as a whole. The benchmark assessment for Nature X, which trades under the contract code CNX, settled at $5.36 per tonne on its first day of trade, before rising to a high of $5.65 per tonne in July and falling to a monthly average of $3.62 per tonne in September.

Despite the general slowdown in the VCM, retirements of CNX eligible projects remain robust given a general flight to quality. CNX represents 11 of the most established and best run REDD+ projects globally. “A total of 13,408,724 tonnes of carbon credits issued by the 11 CNX-eligible projects were retired by the end of September, just 311,000 tonnes below the total retirements during the whole of 2022,” CIX highlights in a new perspectives paper published today.

Access more insights on VCM developments and pricing trends. Download the new CIX Pricing Perspectives paper here.

Note to Editors:

• CIX Exchange trading hours are Mondays to Fridays, 12:00-18:30 SGT and are complemented by a dedicated 30-minute daily pricing session at 17:00-17:30 SGT.

For more information, please contact:
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

• CIX Cookstoves X is second global benchmark contract series to launch on CIX Exchange
• Four standardised spot contracts defined by project location and registry facilitate on- exchange cookstoves trade across four key market quadrants
• First-of-a-kind weekly liquidity session concentrates market activity to deliver firm, high- integrity pricing information for signature benchmarks

Singapore and London, 5 September 2023 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace, auctions house and exchange for trusted carbon credits, has unveiled plans to launch a new series of improved cookstoves benchmarks for the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in the coming months.

CIX Cookstoves X, which will trade under the contract code ‘CCX’ on CIX Exchange, is a set of global standardised spot contracts designed to facilitate trading and capture price trends from key corners of the market. Available at launch are four contracts segmented by project location and registry – specifically, projects in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) or Developing Countries that have been verified by either Gold Standard or Verra.

CONTRACT CODE	PROJECT LOCATION	REGISTRY
[CCX-LG]	Least Developed Countries (LDCs)	Gold Standard
[CCX-LV]	Least Developed Countries (LDCs)	Verra
[CCX-DG]	Developing Countries	Gold Standard
[CCX-DV]	Developing Countries	Verra

Improved cookstoves are the most pervasive household device credit-type with wide-ranging benefits beyond carbon reduction. According to the World Health Organisation, a third of the global population remain without access to clean cooking. As well as contributing to global emissions and indoor smoke pollution, traditional cooking methods put pressure on existing forest stocks. Women and children in the least developed parts of the world are disproportionally affected, suffering from toxic smoke and time poverty as they are often tasked with collecting firewood.

Yet, several barriers continue to impede its scaling potential, including market complexity brought about by the sheer volume of projects that exists globally, fragmented liquidity and pricing opacity.

Designed following broad industry consultation, CIX Cookstoves X contracts aim to help address some of these challenges by streamlining the market through contract standardisation, liquidity concentration and the delivery of transparent market-driven price benchmarks. Collectively, the four contracts cover the vast majority of the cookstoves market.

Tom Enger, Head of Product at CIX, said, “Contract standardisation can help build trust through greater certainty in the projects delivered, while sharpening the valuation of comparable registry crediting schemes and location attributes. CIX Cookstoves X has been curated for fungibility to help project developers, investors, trading houses and end-users de-risk the buying and selling of cookstoves credits. This is essential to unlock the liquidity needed to scale this important market for all those positively impacted.”

To generate sharper market prices, CIX will bring a first-of-a-kind on-exchange spot pricing session for cookstoves credits that concentrates trading activity within a weekly 30-minute window.

Julien Hall, Pricing Director at CIX, said, “Firm and high-integrity pricing information will help to improve market-wide decision making for investment in cookstoves projects. By concentrating liquidity in better-defined and tradeable contracts, CIX aims to help enable the next wave of demand through greater price transparency and confidence in decision-making. Market-driven price benchmarks are also a critical tool to anchor market-linked forward trading agreements.”

Credits eligible for delivery into CIX Cookstoves X contracts are issued within a fixed four-year vintage range, starting at launch with vintages 2020-2023. New contracts are created each year on the first working day of January, reflecting the most recent four-year vintage range.

In June 2023, CIX launched its first standardised benchmark contract, CIX Nature X, which represents a curated delivery basket of 11 large, well-established and globally-accepted projects that support Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, the conservation and sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+).

In the three months since launch, the CIX Nature X contract has significantly increased daily price transparency in the REDD+ market, with over 120 transactions concluded as of 31 August 2023 and an average daily bid-offer spread of just below USD 9 cents.

CIX is continuing to work towards the launch of additional standardised contracts in other segments of the VCM. CIX spot market assessments are distributed via the CIX Carbon Daily market intelligence: register your interest here.

Note to Editors:

• CIX Exchange trading hours are Mondays to Fridays, 12:00-18:30 SGT.
• CIX Cookstoves X weekly pricing session will take place every Tuesday at 17:00-17:30 SGT, and will complement the daily pricing session for CIX Nature X at the same time.
• Each lot of CIX Cookstoves X equates to 1,000 carbon credits, where each credit represents one tonne of avoided emissions from the verified projects.

For more information, please contact:

Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

Gwenda Ang
gwenda.ang@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

• Globally accessible spot trading platform completes CIX’s core suite of venues and services
• Robust daily liquidity window at the intersection of Asia-Pacific and European trading hours
• First trades of CIX Nature X establish benchmark price for prompt 2019-2022 credit vintages
• Anchored in Singapore hub with its established commodity trading and financial community

Singapore and London, 8 June 2023 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace, auctions house and exchange for trusted carbon credits, has successfully launched its spot trading platform, CIX Exchange, completing the company’s core solutions suite with three operational venues. Powered by Nasdaq’s trading technology, CIX Exchange offers carbon market professionals a customised experience built on international best practices for platform stability, performance and governance. Users can efficiently discover market-driven prices, compare individual projects and trade standard contracts.

To address industry calls for greater transparency and price certainty, CIX has introduced the first daily on-exchange liquidity window in the voluntary carbon market with firm bids and offers. This dedicated 30-minute pricing session pools all-day liquidity from Asia, Europe and Middle East to help sharpen benchmark prices and improve order depth for spot nature-based credits.

By close of trading on 7 June 2023, bids and offers had converged to just a few cents and seven transactions totalling 12,000 tonnes of carbon credits had traded and cleared on CIX’s first standardised contract announced in March, CIX Nature X.

Bids, offers and transactions came from a variety of active market participants spanning leading project developers and suppliers, major financial institutions, trading houses and corporate end- users, demonstrating support for price discovery and market scaling. The first trades were executed by Chevron (International) Trading Pte Ltd, CICC Commodity Trading Limited, Engie Energy Marketing Singapore and Standard Chartered. Other supporters that participated include Carbon Growth Partners, DBS Bank, Hana Securities, RWE Supply & Trading, South Pole, Viridios Capital and Vitol Asia.

Chris Leeds, Head of Carbon Markets Development, Standard Chartered, said, “Nature X represents the level of transparency, pricing certainty and market representation that is critical to achieve scale and inspire confidence in carbon markets. By participating in this inaugural trading of Nature X, Standard Chartered is pleased to support the development of a liquid carbon credit market. We are confident that Nature X will become a key benchmark that will enable project developers to more effectively manage their price risks, and in doing so potentially draw more funds towards quality projects that will help cut global emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.”

John Kuehn, Supply & Trading President, Chevron, said, “At Chevron, we believe the future of energy is lower carbon and are committed to delivering more reliable, more affordable, and cleaner energy to meet the world’s growing demands. Chevron is committed to a holistic carbon reduction strategy, and participating in CIX’s new spot exchange helps us meet that goal with a portfolio of credible, verifiable, and sustainable credit units.”

Marking the debut of its pricing intelligence unveiled in May, CIX published a first assessment of USD $5.36 per tonne for leading nature-based avoidance credits with vintages of 2019-2022.

William Chin, Head of Commodities, SGX Group, said, “CIX’s successful launch of its spot trading platform is an important milestone towards enhancing liquidity and price transparency in the voluntary carbon markets. In line with SGX Group’s commitment to support global investors and companies in their transition towards net zero, we will collaborate with CIX on developing critical risk management tools that are central to achieving our collective global climate ambitions.”

Ariel Perez, Managing Partner at Vertree, a part of Hartree Partners, said, “Vertree is excited to help drive innovation and improved price discovery in the carbon market. We need continued developments like Nature X for the carbon market to live up to its promise and reach the scale needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.”

BUILT FOR THE LONG-TERM

CIX Exchange is custom-built for extensibility and modularity to enable effective and dynamic scaling alongside market demands for new credit types, projects and standardised contracts. This provides enhanced trading and pricing functionalities to support further network, technology and data partnerships needed to scale carbon markets.

Roland Chai, Executive Vice President and Head of Marketplace Technology, Nasdaq, said, “The launch of CIX Exchange marks a significant step forward in the development and institutionalisation of the voluntary carbon market. Leveraging Nasdaq’s cloud-based trading technology, CIX will have the ability to match orders across multiple parameters, providing clear price signals to the market and empowering buyers to acquire credits specific to their requirements. With decades of experience as a market operator and technology partner to market infrastructures globally, Nasdaq is uniquely positioned to support the development of CIX’s carbon market.”

Mikkel Larsen, CEO of CIX, added, “This is an exciting chapter for CIX. The launch of our spot exchange completes the build of our core venues, which have been customised for the widest range of end-user, investor and intermediary needs. CIX is uniquely positioned to cater to all major user requirements in the carbon markets ecosystem. Our expanded breadth of solutions and unrivalled user experience reflect our purpose and shareholder vision: to leverage the power of carbon markets with trust and transparency to unlock finance – at the speed and scale necessary – to meet global climate ambitions, protect nature and safeguard local communities.”

To complement on-screen trading activities on CIX Exchange, CIX also launched a new clearing and settlement service for privately negotiated transactions, CIX Clear. The service will enhance the accessibility and scalability of carbon markets by reducing onboarding friction and counterparty risk when establishing bilateral trade relationships.

SINGAPORE CARBON SERVICES HUB

CIX is anchored in Singapore amidst a dynamic carbon services and trading ecosystem and established commodity trading and financial community. As the gateway to end-users in Asia and to investment in regional projects, Singapore is a trusted venue for pricing, trade and settlement of global carbon credit projects and contracts.

Frederick Teo, CEO of GenZero, said, “Singapore’s connectivity to key global financial centres makes it well-placed to serve the region as a carbon services hub. Recent efforts to facilitate access to capital and talent in carbon markets provide a welcome boost to deepen capabilities and create new jobs and economic value for Singapore and the region. GenZero looks forward to working with like-minded partners like CIX to facilitate greater cross-sharing of solutions and best practices to enhance trust and transparency in the global voluntary carbon markets and expedite the transition to a net zero economy.”

Helge Muenkel, Chief Sustainability Officer, DBS Bank, said, “Accelerating the global transition to net zero requires urgent action at scale and on multiple fronts. Carbon credits – when used as part of a credible science-informed decarbonisation strategy – can be a powerful tool to unlock capital for the financing of climate mitigation solutions and activities at scale. Therefore, well-run carbon exchanges facilitating the buying and selling of trusted carbon credits are essential in enabling a low-carbon future. CIX’s progress is testament to the strength of the collaboration driving this effort, and DBS is proud to be a founding partner.”

Lim Wey-Len, Senior Vice President and Head of Environmental Sustainability at Singapore’s Economic Development Board, said, “The new CIX Exchange will be a platform that enables market participants to compare different types of carbon credits and specific projects based on market- driven price indicators, and make informed purchasing decisions. We welcome this innovative platform and CIX’s contributions to a transparent, high-integrity carbon market. It will be a valuable addition to Singapore’s ecosystem of carbon services offerings that are supporting the climate goals of Asia and beyond.”

Lee Pak Sing, Assistant CEO for Trade and Connectivity, Enterprise Singapore, added, “The launch of the CIX Exchange marks a significant milestone in driving greater transparency and liquidity in voluntary carbon markets. We welcome CIX’s latest offering which will further enhance Singapore’s vibrant carbon services and trading ecosystem. This strengthens our competitiveness as a global trade hub and contributes to the Trade2030 strategy to diversify our trading activities with the rest of the world.”

THE CASE FOR NATURE PRESERVATION

CIX Exchange currently lists 34 single nature-based projects which have been verified by Verra and curated from around the world. These projects support Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), Improved Forest Management (IFM) and Afforestation, Reforestation & Revegetation (ARR). This includes the 11 projects that are eligible for delivery into Nature X.

Trading individually listed projects alongside standardised contracts support the evolution of carbon trading, providing an alternative avenue for the transparent discovery of pricing differentials among subtypes of carbon credits and specific project brands.

According to latest reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) Alliance, there is no credible pathway to 1.5°C without immediate action to halt deforestation. Investing in NCS credits can help to address major gaps in funding.

Gerald Prolman, CEO of Everland, said, “This is a really important development for the voluntary carbon market as it will promote liquidity and price transparency around high integrity REDD+ projects. That is a critical step in building buyer confidence, and providing sustainable revenue streams to communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. These communities need reliable alternative sources of income over the long term to create the right incentive to preserve and protect our forests. That is the only way to ensure a tree is not worth more dead than alive.”

Note to Editors:

• CIX Exchange trading hours are Mondays to Fridays, 12:00-18:30 SGT and is complemented by a 30-minute daily pricing session at 17:00-17:30 SGT.
• This launch follows extensive consultations with about 100 core market participants, including experienced project developers, industry and corporate end-users, merchant banks, trading houses, carbon and commodity brokerages, ratings agencies and NGOs.

For more information, please contact:

Climate Impact X
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

APPENDIX – Additional quotes

Rich Gilmore, CEO of Carbon Growth Partners, said, “The opportunity for verified carbon credits to be financed in an efficient and transparent way is essential for climate action. We are delighted to help make that happen as an inaugural participant in the launch of the CIX spot exchange.”

Anthony Bennett, COO, Carbon Management Solutions, said, “We are excited to support the launch of CIX’s carbon spot trading platform. At Carbon Management Solutions, we believe this platform has the potential to revolutionise the way in which carbon is traded, and drive progress towards a more sustainable future.”

Conrad Kwok, Head of FX/Commodities and Emissions Derivatives, Treasury & Markets, DBS Bank, said, “As a bank, DBS is committed to supporting our clients in achieving their sustainability ambition. We are pleased to be part of the success of Nature X which provided an additional avenue for corporates to contribute towards global efforts in addressing climate change. We look forward to our continued partnership with market players on CIX as we offer clients better access to effective solutions in managing carbon emissions for businesses.”

Juan Carlos Fonnegra, Director, Ecopetrol Trading Asia, said, “The CIX Nature X contract enables broader participation from buyers and sellers of different profiles. It also contributes to scale up carbon finance and accelerate the carbon market evolution, which is critical to meet decarbonisation goals of many energy industry players.”

Shefy Manayil Kareem, General Manager for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, said, “In order to bring scale and liquidity to carbon markets, access to more reliable environmental credits and assets is needed. Together with market enablers like CIX and through Environmental Credit Service, a Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability solution, we are working to offer a transparent carbon services ecosystem to scale next-generation digital environmental credits.”

Ana Haurie, Co-founder and CEO of Respira, said, “CIX Exchange and its new benchmark contract, Nature X, will bring more robust price signals to the market, enabling project developers to value subtypes of NCS carbon credits based on market-representative benchmarks. Increased transparency is imperative to build market confidence, and ultimately through scaling the market, channel increased private capital to much needed climate solutions.”

• New pricing intelligence to launch in parallel with upcoming spot exchange
• Elevates transparency and enables more market-representative pricing benchmarks

Singapore and London, 11 May 2023 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace, auctions house and exchange for trusted carbon credits, today shared details of a suite of price assessments the company will launch in parallel with its upcoming spot trading platform, CIX Exchange. The new pricing intelligence will cater to growing demands from global carbon market participants for more transparent and market-representative benchmarks.

CIX will initially offer a suite of price assessments tracking the value of credits that support Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), which channel finance towards the conservation and sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. These assessments will cover standardised contracts tradeable on CIX Exchange, including the company’s first benchmark contract announced in March, CIX Nature X (“Nature X”), as well as a range of price differentials for various credit vintages.

The Nature X benchmark will prioritise firm open-market transactions and orders on CIX Exchange, helping to establish a robust and transparent market-driven price marker. The narrower project eligibility of the Nature X contract will ensure a tight and accurate benchmark reflecting globally recognised and accepted REDD+ projects.

As a commitment to a resilient and well-functioning benchmarking process, CIX has built its pricing methodology and governance processes in accordance with global best practice. The company is currently seeking alignment with the International Organisation of Securities Commission’s (IOSCO) principles for commodity price benchmarks – a detailed set of guidelines relating to governance and control systems. CIX is aiming for its published price assessments to adhere to these principles from the very first day of publication and have engaged an independent auditor to conduct a limited assurance review in the weeks following launch.

Julien Hall, Pricing Director at CIX, said, “The global voluntary carbon market is still nascent, which makes the availability of credible price signals crucial for efficient market building. Through the combination of CIX Exchange’s transactions and firm orders, alongside external market data, we aim to help elevate price transparency by building robust reference prices. Greater trust and transparency will help to reduce the asymmetry of market information and improve the predictability of carbon trading and investment decisions. CIX will continue to innovate and build on these assessments in response to industry needs and as the market develops over time.”

CIX spot market assessments will be distributed each day via the CIX Carbon Daily market intelligence. Register here to receive CIX Carbon Daily.

Note to Editors:

• Read CIX’s IOSCO Statement of Intent here.

For more information, please contact:

Climate Impact X
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

• CIX Nature X will be first standardised contract to launch on CIX’s spot exchange
• Curated contracts provide delivery certainty from a more representative and fungible basket
• Robust contract governance process, aligned with global best practices for benchmarking

Singapore and London, 23 March 2023 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace, auctions house and exchange for trusted carbon credits, is set to launch a nature-based standardised contract in the company’s upcoming spot trading platform, CIX Exchange. CIX Nature X (‘Nature X’), which will trade under the contract code CNX, is innovatively designed to address key market concerns over project delivery risk, market-representative pricing and fragmented liquidity in the voluntary carbon market. Validated through extensive industry consultation, Nature X will deliver a market-driven price benchmark, with enhanced transparency benefitting the industry at large.

At launch, Nature X represents a curated delivery basket of 11 large, well-established and globally- accepted carbon credit projects that support Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, the conservation and sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). Combined, these 11 projects from across the Americas, Africa and Asia account for close to two-thirds of all global REDD+ market volumes. Nature X will contain four tradable contracts at inception, each representing credit vintages over a fixed period of four years between 2016 and 2022.

Nature X has been curated to be precise enough to ensure confidence and certainty in the project credits delivered, while remaining broad enough for ample liquidity and to mitigate any potential concentration risk or sudden market or regulatory developments. Each lot of CNX equates to 1,000 carbon credits, where each credit represents one tonne of reduced or avoided carbon dioxide from the verified projects.

Tom Enger, Head of Product at CIX, said, “As the largest single category of voluntary market carbon credits today by volume of credits issued and retired, REDD+ is an essential part of global decarbonisation, and will serve long-term as a critical marker for all nature-based credits. CIX has developed with broad industry support a clear and simplified contract mechanism for on-exchange transactions, together with best practice contract governance to provide stability. These elements are cornerstones for a robust spot market, which in turn is fundamental for funnelling investment, confidence and new participants into the carbon market to help it scale.”

In curating projects for contractual delivery into Nature X, CIX considers the size of a project by volume of issued and unretired credits; the recognition of a project among active market participants and by independent carbon rating agencies; and its level of traded activity in the spot market. Qualifying projects should also not show specific characteristics which adversely affect their tradability, broad market acceptability or price.

A more focused delivery selection improves contract fungibility, reduces market information asymmetry and mitigates distortive price signals that can occur when sellers have a wide choice of deliverable projects, and when buyers have less familiarity or resources for active due diligence on many new projects globally. CIX’s curated contract basket and a prompt benchmark contract for vintages of 2019-2022, enables a daily global pricing benchmark that is more tightly representative of the market value of leading nature-based projects.

Julien Hall, Pricing Director at CIX, said, “CIX is creating a more fungible spot contract, reducing the risk of buying and selling recently issued credits, and ultimately enabling more market participants to transact with confidence and accuracy. Bids, offers and trades of the Nature X contract by core market participants in a concentrated daily trading session will shine a clear light on market value. This nexus of price formation and liquidity will underpin a robust and representative nature-based spot benchmark, which should build confidence in fairly-priced project differentials, forward contracts and ultimately futures.”

Nature X’s delivery basket is designed to evolve over time in response to market conditions, ensuring ongoing relevance, contract integrity and transparency; and hereby the contract remains representative of the market while also catering for future market scaling. Contract changes will be made in accordance with CIX’s robust governance process, using international best practice, and through open consultation with the market, to ensure benchmark stability.

Chris Leeds, Head of Carbon Markets Development, Standard Chartered, said, “With a collective goal to bring confidence and greater transparency to the carbon offset market, Standard Chartered is pleased to have supported CIX in the development of Nature X. A standardised benchmark, with carbon credit prices determined by supply and demand for a named set of projects, will help to boost market liquidity and channel the money needed to fund emissions-reduction projects globally. By bringing together similar high-integrity nature-based projects, we expect to see a consensus price emerge and a fair value ascertained for these and similar projects. Such a development will inspire confidence and encourage more participants to enter the carbon markets.”

Projects with credits eligible for delivery into CIX Nature X contract:

• The Kasigau Corridor REDD Project Phase ll – The Community Ranches, Kenya
• Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project, Indonesia
• The Mai Ndombe REDD+ Project, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Cordillera Azul National Park REDD Project, Peru
• REDD in Tambopata National Reserve and Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, Brazil
• The Envira Amazonia Project – A Tropical Forest Conservation Project in Acre, Brazil
• Katingan Peatland Restoration and Conservation Project, Indonesia
• REDD+ Project for Caribbean Guatemala: The Conservation Coast, Guatemala
• Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia
• Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project, Cambodia
• Rio-Anapu Pacaja REDD Project, Brazil

Note to Editors:

• REDD+ is an essential climate change mitigation framework developed by the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Other nature-based credit types include carbon removal by afforestation, reforestation and revegetation (ARR), improved forest management (IFM), sustained grassland management and soil carbon, blue carbon (restoration of mangrove forests, tidal and salt marshes, seagrass meadows, seaweed aquaculture and kelp forests), wetland restoration and emerging jurisdictional REDD projects.

For more information, please contact:

Climate Impact X
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

• Key carbon market players take market “to the next level” by removing friction in the transaction process and enhancing risk mitigation to expand global access

Singapore and London, 20 December 2022 – Carbon credit transaction network Carbonplace and Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace and exchange for quality environmental credits, have today announced a successful series of proof-of-concept transactions that will dramatically increase the speed, security and accessibility of carbon market trading.

This landmark pilot, carried out on CIX’s Project Marketplace, paves the way for the enhanced connectivity between buyers and sellers required to support carbon market liquidity and scale. With demand for carbon credits expected to increase exponentially, the ability to settle quickly and with confidence is key to supporting the growth of the market.

The due diligence involved with procuring quality carbon credits including know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) processes is often technical and requires businesses to invest significant resources. This due diligence is crucial to transparency and certainty in the market, but the processes can prevent access for carbon market participants, notably sellers in developing economies, and restrict the liquidity necessary for efficient and scalable trading. This pilot has demonstrated that it is possible to simplify the transaction process, shorten the settlement cycle and allow parties to transact with confidence by drawing on the robust in-built compliance processes of Carbonplace members and the CIX marketplace.

Carbonplace, which settled the transactions and established the technical, legal and operational framework for execution, leverages the compliance capabilities of the financial institutions behind the platform to remove frictions in counterparty due diligence and onboarding. The blockchain-enabled fintech, which is due to launch in early 2023 and has been likened to the SWIFT system of carbon markets, is being developed by nine of the world’s largest banks accounting for nearly $9 trillion in total assets, NAB, NatWest, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, UBS, BBVA and SMBC.

The CIX Project Marketplace is a digital trading venue that connects carbon market buyers and sellers. It curates and organises projects in a way that makes quality credits easily accessible, allowing developers and suppliers to reach a wider pool of corporate buyers and institutional investors. As part of the integration, customers of the participating banks will gain seamless access to CIX’s marketplace; while CIX-onboarded buyers and suppliers will be able to access a broader selection of carbon projects and audience, respectively, through Carbonplace’s distribution network.

The technology integration tested three types of transaction most likely to occur on the platform among buyers and sellers of Carbonplace and CIX. Counterparties in the pilot transactions are customers of Carbonplace and CIX, as well as Carbonplace’s founder banks. These included project suppliers Carbon Growth Partners and Sustainable Carbon, as well as Pavilion Energy, NatWest and Itaú Unibanco on the buyer side.

“At Carbon Growth Partners, one of our core mandates is to facilitate confidence and liquidity in carbon markets to mobilise climate finance to support impactful projects. The Carbonplace and CIX partnership allows us to tap into a wide pool of buyers looking to purchase high integrity carbon credits, by enabling seamless connectivity between customers of the nine founding banks and the CIX Project Marketplace where our projects have been carefully curated and listed,” said Rich Gilmore, Chief Executive Officer, Carbon Growth Partners.

Bill Gilbert, Head of Carbon Markets at NatWest, “Resilient, flexible and modern infrastructure that ensures trust, access and transparency is essential for carbon markets to grow and function effectively. This drastic improvement in funds settlement and counterparty risk assessment in a blockchain environment will be pivotal in taking the carbon market to the next level and unlocking its true potential for delivering climate action at scale.”

“In line with Pavilion Energy’s ambition to support the transition to a low carbon future, we are always on the lookout for high-quality carbon credits that meet corporate, regulatory and industry compliance requirements. The integration between Carbonplace and CIX opens doors to a wider and curated range of counterparties, as well as supply of projects from around the world, providing more options for us to contribute meaningfully in the voluntary carbon market,” said Mr. Ong Seng Leong, Head of Energy Financial Solutions and Environmental Solutions from Pavilion Energy.

Carbonplace’s distributed ledger technology, due to its traceability and publicly accessible records, also addresses the historic issues around transparency and fraud in carbon trading, particularly regarding the sourcing and pricing of carbon credits. Through Carbonplace, marketplace buyers and sellers can share information in real time across to ensure instant, secure and traceable settlement of carbon credit transactions – including retirement of credits within minutes.

Mikkel Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Climate Impact X, said, “Enhanced transparency, connectivity and cross-border trading are essential to effectively scale carbon markets. We believe that the combined proposition of CIX and Carbonplace offers something that is truly unique in the market. Together, we bring an unparalleled and reliable platform to businesses and financial institutions that offer seamless access to quality carbon credits, with an easy settlement system that reduces complexity and drives transparency.”

Contact:

Carbonplace:

www.carbonplace.com
carbonplace@browningenvironmental.com
+44.7585-034895

Climate Impact X:

www.climateimpactx.com
media@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

Natwest:

Amy Cayzer
amy.cayzer@natwestmarkets.com

Notes to editors:

The voluntary carbon market has a critical role in supporting the transition of corporations to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, as part of their climate action strategies. Carbon credits are bought by corporations looking to compensate for emissions that they cannot reduce or remove. The credits fund high-quality projects that couldn’t have been funded otherwise, and which either avoid greenhouse gas emissions being released into the atmosphere or remove carbon dioxide from it.

DBS Taiwan continues to make strides in green finance innovation and announced on 12 April that CHIMEI Corporation, the world’s largest maker of ABS resin, has established a NT$1 billion green deposit with DBS Bank’s Taipei Branch. At the same time, CHIMEI is officially onboarded with Climate Impact X (CIX), a global exchange and marketplace for quality carbon credits, jointly established by the DBS Group, Singapore Exchange and Temasek, etc. CHIMEI is one of the early Taiwanese corporates to join CIX in their bid to drive positive impact together with DBS.

DBS Taiwan is leading the industry in launching NTD green deposits for corporate customers. As of the end of March, a total of 10 companies have responded positively and made deposits valued at an estimated NT$ 4 billion. Amongst the companies, CHIMEI Corporation has made a NT$1 billion green deposit to DBS Bank’s Taipei Branch, the largest one to date for the branch, as a source of funding for green loans and sustainability linked loans.

Tony Luo, Head of Institutional Banking Group at DBS Taiwan, pointed out that sustainability is a key development strategy for DBS and the bank continues to leverage its financial expertise to empower companies to integrate sustainability with business operations. DBS Taiwan is actively working closely with its customers to implement sustainability through financial products such as sustainability linked loans and green deposits. Through green deposits, companies not only provide capital for sustainable development, but also enjoy exclusive green deposit rates. This is a great way to incorporate sustainability initiatives into a company’s strategic planning, as well as demonstrate the organization’s focus on sustainable development, hence DBS Taiwan is excited to see more companies responding positively.

In addition to investing in green deposits, CHIMEI Corporation is also one of the pioneer Taiwanese members at CIX, a global exchange and marketplace for quality carbon credits, jointly established by the DBS Group, Singapore Exchange and Temasek, etc.

CIX has developed a range of platforms to serve the diverse needs of buyers and suppliers. The Project Marketplace platform provides content rich project information on various nature-based projects; the Auction platform brings together groups of buyers to bid for specific projects or curated portfolio of projects; and the spot Exchange platform caters to faster trading of standardized contracts for multinational corporations and institutional investors, with real time data for managing price risk.

Mikkel Larsen, CEO of Climate Impact X, said that CIX is encouraged to see Taiwanese corporates joining the CIX community, demonstrating commitment to climate mitigation with focus on quality carbon credits. CIX will initially be focused on natural climate solutions (e.g. protection and restoration of natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and mangroves) and gradually expand its offerings to include tech removals and other non-nature based carbon projects.

With a longstanding focus on decarbonisation, CHIMEI Corporation partnered with suppliers to complete the world’s first carbon-neutral transport of butadiene in August 2021 to support nature conservation.

In recent years, CHIMEI has adopted the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to support sustainable development. Besides the avoidance of investments in high pollution, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and other morally questionable industries, last year (2021), CHIMEI included ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) factors into their investment analysis of potential portfolio. Recently, the firm ventured into innovative green finance. Apart from investing in green bonds issued by the wind power industry, national utilities, and financial industry, CHIMEI also acquired green deposit from DBS bank Taipei Branch.

To date, CHIMEI has invested over NT$3 billion in green finance products. Going forward, CHIMEI’s investments will continue to emphasize the development of green innovations and partnerships with financial partners, with global focus on ESG topics.

• 250,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits from the world’s largest mangrove restoration project sold at USD $27.80 per tonne
• 30 per cent of volume bid at $35.00 per tonne and above, signalling the premium for Respira’s high-quality and unique ‘blue carbon’ credit type with new 2021 vintage
• Powered by CIX’s platform which enables flexible, customisable auctions with high price transparency for opaque new carbon markets

Singapore and London, 4 November 2022 – Climate Impact X (CIX), a global marketplace and exchange for quality environmental credits, and Respira International, an impact-driven carbon finance business, have completed a landmark auction for high-quality nature-based blue carbon credits. The auction successfully sold 250,000 tonnes of vintage 2021 credits from the Delta Blue Carbon Project in Pakistan, the world’s largest mangrove restoration project, at USD $27.80 per tonne. This is $10.00 per tonne, or close to 40 per cent premium to current spot prices for major REDD+ nature-based solutions of the same credit vintage.

To facilitate price transparency in carbon markets, CIX is publishing the auction demand curve which showcases the range of bid prices submitted. 30 per cent of the bid volume was priced at $35.00 per tonne or more, 27 per cent above the auction reserve price ($27.50 per tonne), signalling the premium at which some buyers were willing to pay for high-quality and unique credit types.

Drawing many buyers from around the world, concentrated in Asia, Europe and the United States, the success of the auction demonstrates strong international demand for quality carbon credits given rising corporate net-zero commitments and in the run up to the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27). Despite a backdrop of high inflation and global macro uncertainty weighing on the whole carbon market, this represents a strong signal of support for premium credits of high integrity.

“CIX’s core priority is to build trust and transparency in the carbon markets to unlock liquidity, and one of the ways we seek to do this is through the discovery of clear demand and price signals. This auction offers reassurance to the market that demand for quality carbon credits remains robust. We are proud to work with partners like Respira to deliver landmark auctions, and together help to scale the next wave of impactful carbon sequestration solutions,” said Mikkel Larsen, CEO of CIX.

“Our long-term offtake agreements with project developers offer them revenue certainty whilst our profit sharing mechanism ensures they share the upside as demand and prices grow. We strive for higher prices for high-quality carbon credits in the market so as to channel private capital into these much- needed climate solutions, and are delighted to see such a strong demand signal. CIX’s focus on telling the suppliers’ story and showcasing the good work of project developers makes them an ideal partner to catalyse finance for these solutions,” said Ana Haurie, Co-founder and CEO of Respira.

Mangroves are some of the most effective natural carbon sinks on earth, with the ability to store up to five times more carbon than upland tropical forests. ⁱ The Delta Blue Carbon Project is protecting and restoring 350,000 hectares of tidal river channels and creeks, low-lying sandy islands, mangrove forests and inter-tidal areas along the southeast coast of Sindh in Pakistan. Over its lifetime, the project is expected to sequester around 142 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. It will also drive broader biodiversity and socio-economic impacts, which includes benefiting more than 42,000 people in local communities.

“I am delighted that all our hard work to establish the world’s largest blue carbon project is paying off. The sale of the first delivered credits from the Delta Blue Carbon-1 project will secure the project’s long- term future and will allow my team to significantly scale up activities and further deliver on our plans. The funds will be channelled directly into on-the-ground activities as we strive to deliver environmental and climate benefits at scale – as well as improve the well-being and livelihoods of our local communities. Projects such as Delta Blue Carbon-1 require large-scale financing. Private sector investment through the carbon market is unlocking this new frontier in conservation,” said Nadeem Khan, Founder of Indus Delta Capital, project developer of the Delta Blue Carbon Project.

CIX Auctions is a specialised digital venue for discovering prices of unique credit types, newly issued credits and customised portfolios of projects through the efficient aggregation of market supply and demand. CIX’s signature platform enables flexible, customisable auctions that support price discovery and builds up end-user demand, both of which are needed to scale carbon markets.

Note to editors:

• The auction was structured to allow successful participants to be awarded a common final settlement price, which is the lowest price of all allocated bids that collectively cleared the volume on offer; and designed to maximise distribution to build up a wide base of high integrity buyers.

For more information, please contact:

Climate Impact X
Daphne Chuah
daphne.chuah@stg-climateimpactxcom-staging.kinsta.cloud

Respira International
Novella Communications
Tim Robertson
Claire de Groot
Safia Colebrook
+44 (0) 20 3151 7008
respira@novella-comms.com

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1. Future Mangrove Carbon Storage Under Climate Change and Deforestation (2022).