CFTC Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee 

June 3rd, 2021

Current state and development of 

international carbon markets
About EEX Group

Public © EEX AG, 2021 6/3/2021 2

2,000th auction for

carbon emission allowances

held on EEX Group 

environmental markets in 2020

EEX Group operates

4 commodity exchanges and

2 clearing houses

2,412 TWh

of natural gas traded

on EEX Group 

gas markets in 2020

7,077 TWh

of electricity traded

on EEX Group 

power markets in 2020

776+

trading participants

from 40 countries

789,921 lots 

of dry bulk freight traded

on EEX Group

freight markets in 2020
The bigger picture: carbon markets globally

16% of global GHG emissions covered under ETS, ~3x since 2005, approaching 9 Gt CO2e

Public © EEX AG, 2021

Source: ICAP Status Report 2021

6/3/2021 3
Carbon pricing is an essential tool to achieve climate targets

We believe in the power of markets for a cost-efficient decarbonization of our economies

Public © EEX AG, 2021 4

52,400,000,000 t CO2e

Net zero

 All countries have made national pledges for emissions 

reductions (bottom-up approach)

 Countries have full discretion how to reach those 

targets; instruments are laid out in national ‘action plans’

 Majority of countries’ action plans explicitly make 

reference to the introduction of carbon pricing in some 

form

How can energy and environmental exchanges 

contribute to achieve our climate targets? 

 Support implementation of environmental policies

 Provide a safe and reliable regulated environment for 

local and international carbon trading 

 Transparent price discovery mechanism on 

exchange, firm deals, daily marks, secure settlement

 Proved mechanisms of financial markets to manage 

price risk, liquidity risk and credit risk

 Access to related markets and services

Source: Visible Earth, NASA Blue Marble project

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Emissions Gap Report 2020: 

52.4 Gt CO2e global GHG emissions in 2019 including Fossil CO2 (~38-40 Gt), 

Methane, Nitrous oxide and Fluorinated gases; 59.1 Gt including land use change

6/3/2021

Further development of emissions trading schemes 

worldwide is accelerated by the ‘Paris Agreement’:
Environmental contracts offered by EEX Group

We believe in a granular, holistic offering of environmental products and services

Public © EEX AG, 2021 5

North America

Carbon Emissions (6)

 WCI CCA Futures & Options

 RGGI Carbon Futures & Options

SO2/NOx Emissions (7)

 CSAPR TR SO2 Group 1&2 Futures

 CSAPR TR NOx Annual Allowances Futures

 CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Group 2&3 F&O

Renewable Energy Certificates (58) 

 PJM GATS REC Futures & Options 

(Tri-Qual, DC, MD, NJ, OH, PA)

 NEPOOL GIS REC Futures & Options 

(Duo-Qual, CT, ME, MA, NH, RI)

 NY-GATS REC Futures 

 M-RETS REC Futures 

 TX REC Futures & Options 

Renewable Fuel Credits (12)

 California Low Carbon Fuel Standard F&O

 Oregon Clean Fuel Program F&O

 Renewable Identification Numbers F&O

(D3 Cellulosic Biofuel, D4 Biodiesel,

D5 Advanced Biofuel, D6 Renewable Biofuel)

Europe

Carbon Emissions (15)

 EUA auctions (EU, DE, PL)

 EUA Spot, Futures & Options (EU)

 EUAA auctions (EU, DE, PL)

 EUAA Spot, Futures (EU)

 UKA Spot, Futures & Options (UK) 

(in preparation)

 German fuel ETS (DE)

(in preparation)

Guarantees of Origin (1)

 French GO auctions

Registry services

 Power GO registries (DK, FR, HR, HU, IE, 

IS, LT, LV, LU, NO, RS, SE)

 Biogas GO registries (DK, FI, FR, UK)

 Hydrogen certificate registry (EU)

 Energy Savings Certificates registry (FR)

Asia Pacific

Carbon Emissions 

 Cooperation with NZX 

operation of NZU auctions

Today, EEX 

Group proudly 

offers the 

broadest set of 

environmental 

contracts 

globally.

6/3/2021
Focus on EEX Group carbon contracts

We believe in building markets long-term and in the combination of synergetic elements

Public © EEX AG, 2021 6

Typical carbon futures contract

 Underlying: greenhouse gas emissions allowance of 

the relevant program, each representing 1 metric ton 

of CO2e

 Trading unit: 1 lot

 Lot size: 1,000 allowances

 Currency: USD (or EUR)

 Price precision: $0.01 (or EUR 0.01) / allowance

 Contract series: monthly, main expiry in December

 Final settlement price: Daily settlement price of last 

trading day

 Settlement: physical delivery three (or two) business 

days after last trading day via registry system

Range of exchange traded carbon contracts

2005 2018 2020 2021

EEX pioneers 

EUA spot market

2017

EEX Group 

starts strategic 

cooperation 

with IncubEx

Nodal enters 

US carbon markets 

with CCA & RGGI 

Futures & Options

Spot auction

Spot trading

 EU ETS Phase 4 (2021-2030)

 CCA, RGGI Vintages until 2025

 Spot price hedges, carry trades, 

roll-overs, option delta hedges, ...

Futures

Options on 

Futures

 Secondary market trading of 

allocated allowances (EU only)

 Daily asset optimization

 Allocation of new allowances on 

primary market (EU only)

 (Almost) daily auctions

Clearing

 Corresponding maturities to 

futures markets

 Outright and structured trades

EEX launches EUA 

futures market

EEX lists Kyoto 

CER offset 

contracts EEX becomes 

Common Auction 

Platform for the 

European Union

German EUA 

auction platform

EEX to start 

German Fuel 

ETS platform

EEX to list 

UK ETS 

contracts

EEX and NZX 

operate 

NZ ETS

auctions

EEX 

lists future-style 

EUA Options

EEX launches 

EUA options 

market EEX lists EU 

Aviation 

Allowances

2008 2010 2012

EEX lists Kyoto 

ERU offset 

contracts

Milestones of EEX Group carbon markets

EEX runs 

NER300 sales 

program for 

European 

Investment Bank
State of international carbon markets

Exchange traded carbon derivatives1 on growth path in North America and in Europe

Public © EEX AG, 2021 7

 Underlying market supply (cap): 401.6 Mt CO2e in 2020

 Upward trend in trading volumes since around mid-2018

 ~1.97M F&O contracts2 traded in 2020, up 33% over 2019 

 Rise primarily driven by CCAs, accounting for 88% of 

volume in 2020, 78% in Q4/2020 (balance: RGGI)

 Price of CCA front month rose from below $13 per ton in 

January 2016 to above $19 today

 COVID lockdown in spring 2020 caused price drop and 

spike in trading volumes

 Open interest in F&O roughly doubled over two years 

(2019/2020); stands today above 1.1M contracts

443,628

6/3/2021

North America (WCI + RGGI)

Europe

 Underlying market supply (cap): 1,816 Mt CO2e in 2020

 Trading volumes increased significantly since around 

mid-2017, including options

 11.69M F&O contracts1 traded in 2020, up 10% over 2019

 EUA front month price rose 6.5-fold from below EUR 8 per 

ton in Jan 2016 to above EUR 52 EUR today 

 EUA Dec21 Futures reached ATH of EUR 56.90 on 5/14/21

 First COVID lockdowns in spring 2020 led to significant 

price drop and high trading volumes

 Open interest in F&O stands above 1.7M contracts today

1 total market

2 1 contract = 1,000t CO2e
Major trends in global carbon market development

Wide range of dynamic external factors is shaping global carbon markets

Public © EEX AG, 2021 8

 UK to reduce emissions by 78%1 until 2035, net zero by 2050

 Germany plans 65%1 reduction by 2030, net zero by 2045 

 US returned to Paris Agreement, WH announced 50-52%2

GHG emissions reduction by 2030, net zero by 2050

 Regional ETS in the US, e.g. Virginia joined RGGI in 2021 

 Potential EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM)

 Expected full scale operations of Chinese national ETS

 Potential linking of national or regional ETS

 Inclusion of maritime and aviation industry into existing ETS

 Establishment of new ETS in other sectors than power 

generation, e.g. industry, transport and buildings

 Standardization of VCM contracts 

 International private sector initiatives, e.g. TSVCM4

 VCM offsets complement ETS compliance markets

 CORSIA: agreement by the ICAO’s5 191 member states to 

cap net carbon emissions for the international aviation 

industry; will become mandatory in 2027

 IMO6 aims to reduce carbon intensity of international shipping 

by 40%3 by 2030

Higher GHG reduction targets & 

ambitions towards carbon neutrality

Geographic expansion of ETS

Sectoral expansion of ETS

International climate change initiatives 

Rise of voluntary carbon markets 

1 compared to 1990 2 compared to 2005 3 compared to 2008 6/3/2021

4 Task Force on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets 5 International Civil Aviation Organization 6 International Maritime Organization
Thank you Christian Schneider

Managing Director, Strategy

EEX Group Strategy Director

Nodal Exchange

Tel: +1 703 962 9872

schneider@nodalexchange.com