Xpansiv, S&P Global Commodity Insights, and CME Group
Collaborate to Enhance the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Market
NEW YORK, LONDON, SYDNEY — Xpansiv, the fully integrated market infrastructure provider for the global energy transition, today announced collaborations with Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, and CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, to enhance price discovery, liquidity formation, and risk management capabilities in the rapidly growing Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) market.
The collaboration will entail Xpansiv’s existing standardized spot ACCU generic and human induced regeneration (HIR) contracts traded on its CBL spot trading platform being settled to a new CBL-Platts ACCU price assessment, and the launch by CME Group of a new generic CBL ACCU futures contract on the underlying CBL spot instrument.
When implemented, the new measures will provide a set of aligned end-of-day price references, as well as spot and futures contracts to facilitate ACCU price discovery, physical market trading, and future price risk management.
The ACCU collaboration by Xpansiv, S&P Global Commodity Insights, and CME Group, is the first such undertaking for a compliance market.
“The trifecta of a robust physical market, enhancements to Platts’ existing ACCU price assessments – which now reflect additional CBL spot physical market transactions and order data and additional broker price data from Australia – and the creation of a hedging mechanism through a futures contract, combine to provide the marketplace with a deeper and broader view of value, which benefits ACCU market participants and the carbon markets at large,” said Brian Casey, Head of Markets Strategy & Partnerships, S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Xpansiv launched spot market ACCU trading on its CBL trading platform in December. More than 3.5 million tons of ACCUs have traded through the CBL platform and Xpansiv intermediaries since January 2023. CBL’s standardized and project-specific ACCU contracts trade on the same screen as global voluntary carbon credits, voluntary and compliance Australian and North American renewable energy certificates (RECs), and international and global RECs.
CME Group’s CBL Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Futures contract is scheduled to launch on October 13, pending regulatory review, and will settle to the underlying spot standardized ACCU contract traded on Xpansiv’s CBL marketplace. In addition, CBL will facilitate delivery for futures positions held to expiration via its Xpansiv Connect™ post-trade infrastructure, which is integrated with 14 leading carbon and renewable energy registries. CBL ACCU futures will be listed by and subject to the rules of NYMEX.
“We are pleased to partner with Xpansiv to launch CBL ACCU futures in the rapidly evolving carbon credit markets,” said Peter Keavey, Global Head of Energy and Environmental Products at CME Group. “This is the latest in our suite of risk management tools as we respond to demand for solutions that will allow clients to execute their carbon reduction strategies more effectively, whether they are on a compliance or voluntary basis.”
Xpansiv’s revised Platts-based CBL spot market contracts and pending CME CBL ACCU futures contract will further provide ACCU market participants, including significant carbon dioxide emitters and financial institutions, with robust, end-of-day assessed pricing for reporting, portfolio mark-to-market, and a tool to manage future price risk.
“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with market leaders S&P Global Commodity Insights and CME Group, each of which are relied upon for solutions to pricing challenges in the marketplace,” said Ben Stuart, Chief Commercial Officer, Xpansiv. “Together we have set a new standard for reliable price signals and trading instruments in this important, evolving market.”
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