Xpansiv
Press
Recently, a new breed of fintechs is exploding in the form of climate fintech. Climate fintechs are platforms that allow companies or users to contribute to the solutions of climate change. Perhaps the biggest and most well known climate fintech platform out there is Xpansiv, a world leading marketplace for carbon credits.
Xpansiv’s trading platform executes at least 90% of all exchange-traded voluntary carbon credit transactions globally, matching corporates who want to buy carbon credits with suppliers who run projects that reduce greenhouse gases (GHG).
A powerhouse is being created in the global carbon markets with Xpansiv, a major platform for environmental markets, announcing Thursday it is acquiring Evolution Markets, one of the world’s largest emissions brokerages.
The acquisition of Evolution will bolster its already significant presence in the VCM, bringing the broker’s 2,000-strong customer base together with the CBL platform, which hosts both CBL’s suite of standard contracts – the GEO complex – as well as bespoke VCM deals.
Market data infrastructure and trading platform Xpansiv said Thursday it had purchased US brokerage Evolution Markets in a bid to grow its trading and settlement platform for voluntary carbon offsets.
Xpansiv, which is seen to own the ‘plumbing’ around carbon trading, announced Monday it completed its acquisition of APX, which owns energy and environmental trading infrastructure.
“Xpansiv have the cash and backing to almost do what they like in the space,” said one broker.
Blackstone Inc. will invest $400 million in Xpansiv, a platform that lets investors trade assets tied to the energy transition such as carbon offsets and renewable-energy credits.
The upstart exchange is trying to provide the tools needed to standardize prices for carbon in the financial system. Analysts say that is a vital step to spur emissions reductions by large companies. Xpansiv formed a partnership with CME Group Inc. to last year launch futures contracts tied to voluntary carbon offsets.
Blackstone believes Xpansiv is in a sweet spot in the energy transition because it provides information that businesses and investors will need, said David Foley, global head of Blackstone Energy Partners. “The demand for it is just exploding,” he said.
The CBL Nature-based Global Emissions Offset (N-GEO) futures contract is the clear frontrunner to become the de facto benchmark of the voluntary carbon market with traded volumes, open interest and participant numbers all up in the past year, said CME Group.
Owain Johnson, CME’s global head of research and product development, said the N-GEO’s popularity was a result of the corporate appeal for nature-based solutions, which typically carry more co-benefits than renewable energy projects, and the fact it relies solely on the Verra registry, which facilitates client onboarding.
The Global Emissions Offset (GEO), which was the first benchmark created by CBL—CME’s partner—and the first futures launched by CME, has seen lower trade activity than the N-GEO, with the gap between the two widening in the last few months.
“The nature-based N-GEO is the frontrunner in terms of traded volumes, open interest, and participant numbers,” Johnson said.
A major global carbon credit marketplace has partnered with a ratings agency to host grades for voluntary carbon market offsets on its site, it announced Thursday. Xpansiv CBL has teamed up with BeZero to show ratings from more than 230 projects from all major accreditors.
“Our XSignals service provides the highest quality VCM data, combining CBL transaction data and supporting data from a growing network of partners,” said Andy Bose, Head of XSignals. “Integrating BeZero Carbon ratings will provide clients with even deeper data to evaluate credit quality across various project types—an important development on the road to net zero.”