Xpansiv recently completed what it billed as the first exchange-driven transaction for an energy commodity based on its environmental impacts. In that deal, renewable energy firm South Pole bought responsible gas certificates from Carbon Creek Energy, whose wells have been certified to meet certain environmental standards by IES. The parties executed the trade on a platform operated by CBL, an Xpansiv affiliate. The transaction involved a package combining the underlying gas commodity with data about its environmentally friendly attributes, Xpansiv CEO Joe Madden said in an interview. “We’re talking about the first time you’ve attached attributional information, outside of electricity, to any mainstream commodity,” Madden said. “Think of it like what an MP3 is to music. You’ve created a data format that allows you to combine metadata with primary content the same way you combine a song with artist and title.”