Carbon Trade Exchange

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Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX) was an exchange operator that was rebranded as CBL Markets (Colonial Bourses) in 2016.
As CTX, they operated spot exchanges in multiple global environmental commodity markets, including carbon, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and water. Carbon Trade Exchange allowed buyers and sellers to trade voluntary credits, as well as those issued by a United Nations program established under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
CTX was a platinum sponsor of the Sustainable Innovation Forum at COP 21 in Paris in December 2015.
On May 6, 2015, CTX announced the launch of the CTX RGGI Exchange, a new centralized exchange platform to buy and sell allowances from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S. to limit carbon dioxide from the power sector.
==Backgound==
CTX was founded in London in 2009, after two years of research and development. 
CTX uses technical IT infrastructure to support and operate its exchanges. CTX operated in Australia, the EU and the US. 
The CTX Exchange Platform interfaced with multiple environmental commodity registries, including APX, Climate Action Reserve, American Carbon Registry, VCS, Gold Standard and the Australian REC Registry. It also electronically links to financial intermediaries, such as Westpac in Australia, to provide efficient trading and create liquid and transparent markets.
== Key People ==
*Wayne Sharpe, Founder and Chairman
*Baden Wright, CEO
*Nathan Rockliff, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder
==Key Partners==
Partnerships included:
Westpac Group
The Westpac Group is Australia’s second largest bank by market capitalisation and employs 37,000 people in Australia, New Zealand and the near Pacific region. The group’s portfolio of financial services brands and businesses includes Westpac Retail and Business Banking, St. George Bank, BankSA, BT Financial Group Australia, Westpac Institutional Bank and Westpac New Zealand. The Westpac Group is focused on a common purpose – helping 10 million customers achieve their financial goals.
APX
APX Environmental Markets is an infrastructure provider for environmental and energy markets in renewable energy and greenhouse gases, including carbon commodities. APX business services include the APX Environmental Management Account, a complete suite of solutions for environmental asset and risk management, and APX Registries services for Renewable Energy in the United States and Voluntary Carbon worldwide. APX has grown into a leadership role over the last two decades through strong client support, proven infrastructure and reliable, cost-effective, 24/7 operations in there APX Environmental Markets and APX Power Markets businesses.
The Gold Standard
The Gold Standard is an award winning certification standard for carbon mitigation projects and is recognized internationally as the benchmark for quality and rigor in both the compliance and voluntary carbon markets. They certify renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management and land use & forest carbon offset projects to ensure that they all demonstrate real and permanent greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and sustainable development benefits in local communities that are measured, reported and verified.
Climate Action Reserve
As the premier carbon offset registry for the North American carbon market, the Climate Action Reserve encourages action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by ensuring the environmental integrity and financial benefit of emissions reduction projects. The Reserve establishes high quality standards for carbon offset projects, oversees independent third-party verification bodies, issues carbon credits generated from such projects and tracks the transaction of credits over time in a transparent, publicly-accessible system.
American Carbon Registry
The American Carbon Registry (ACR) is a non-profit US carbon market standard and registry. As the first private voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the US, ACR has more than 15 years of operational experience in the development of carbon offset standards and protocols, carbon offset issuance and serialization and transparent on-line transaction reporting. ACR has issued over 30 million carbon offsets.
Verified Carbon Standard
The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) is a greenhouse gas accounting program used by projects around the world to verify and issue carbon credits in voluntary markets. VCS was founded in 2005 by business and environmental leaders who identified a need for greater quality assurance in voluntary markets. Its founding partners – the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Economic Forum – convened a team of global carbon market experts to draft the first VCS requirements. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) joined the effort soon after.
The Climate Registry
The Climate Registry is a non-profit collaboration among North American states, provinces, territories and Native Sovereign Nations that sets consistent and transparent standards to calculate, verify and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions into a single registry.
IETA
The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) is a non-profit business organization created in June 1999 to establish a functional international framework for trading in greenhouse gas emission reductions. Its membership includes leading international companies from across the carbon trading cycle. IETA members seek to develop an emissions trading regime that results in real and verifiable greenhouse gas emission reductions, while balancing economic efficiency with environmental integrity and social equity.
Carbon Market Institute
The Carbon Market Institute is an independent membership-based not-for-profit organization. Its aim is to assist Australian business in meeting the challenges and opportunities associated with the developing national and international carbon markets and thereby build capacity to grow in a low-carbon world.
Minneapolis Grain Exchange, Inc.
Carbon Trade Exchange and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) on April 30, 2015 announced the establishment of a new business relationship that will result in the launch of CTX in the California Cap-and-Trade Program, with MGEX providing support and services for a spot market exchange trading Allowances and Offsets in the state-based program.
== Follow CTX ==
*Facebook
*Twitter
*YouTube
* Linkedin
== References ==
Category:Carbon Trading
Category:Exchanges