• Firms will allow reciprocal access to each other’s platforms
• Demand for credits is increasing among Japanese firms

Carbon credit exchange operator Xpansiv will partner with a Japanese startup to tap into rising demand for offsets in the Asian nation.

The US-based firm will link up with Enechain Corp.’s Japan Climate Exchange, which trades Japanese carbon credits — called J-Credits — and non-fossil certificates. The agreement will allow clients of the Tokyo-based firm to buy products including International Renewable Energy Certificates via Xpansiv’s platforms. The companies will also explore making J-Credits tradable on Xpansiv’s CBL exchange.

“The demand for these credits is rising in Japan, prompting Xpansiv and enechain to form this strategic partnership,” they said in a joint statement.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF)-backed Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC) has selected commodity exchange Xpansiv to provide tech infrastructure for its carbon credit market set to launch later this year in Saudi Arabia.
The new exchange will be built on Xpansiv’s open-access market infrastructure, including a fully automated, same-day settlement platform and a portfolio management system, both of which will be integrated with leading global registries, RVCMC said in a statement.

“RVCMC will set tight guiderails for the exchange to ensure the listing of high integrity carbon credit projects only, all backed by independent standard setters, to support the global energy transition,” it said.

• JSE starts carbon-credit market in venture with Xpansiv
• African nations plan to regulate, boost carbon-credit output

JSE Ltd., which operates Africa’s biggest stock and bond exchanges, has made its play to corner the continent’s nascent carbon market.

The Johannesburg-based company has started a market for carbon credits and renewable-energy certificates with Xpansiv Ltd., which provides infrastructure to trade what it terms environmental commodities, it said on Thursday.

“We are putting the plumbing in place” to trade these securities, Valdene Reddy, the JSE’s director of capital markets, said in an interview. “We are looking to position this as a solution across the continent.”

Q: It’s been almost two years since Xpansiv completed its first Digital Natural Gas (DNG) transaction through the Xpansiv Registry. How is this breakthrough aiding the oil and gas sector in reducing methane emissions and playing a bigger role in the energy transition?

Amy Bann, senior vice-president for supply and ecosystem at Xpansiv, a global marketplace for environmental commodities, said that the CCPs are “an important effort to bring greater clarity and standardisation to the voluntary carbon markets”.

When asked what challenges remain for the VCM, Bann said that there are “macroeconomic headwinds beyond carbon markets that are impacting the VCM, along with in-sector factors including a perception of a fragmented landscape”.

“Nonetheless, our data is signalling positive, longer-term indicators: market participants continue to increase; futures and open interests are strong; and corporate ESG targets remain steady,” she added.

Blackstone sees an opportunity to invest in economically attractive businesses and technologies that support the energy transition and enable carbon markets via our investment in Xpansiv, as part of our goal to continue to drive value for investors.