Xpansiv Digital Fuels Registry
Background
Ben Stuart brings more than 15 years’ experience in environmental markets to his role as Chief Commercial Officer & President, Transaction Services of Xpansiv, which includes exchange marketplace CBL that he co-founded in 2009. He designed and implemented the CBL product offering across environmental, energy, and soft commodity products, and was part of the joint government initiative that established Australian water exchange H2OX. His involvement in the carbon industry has involved exposure to the Global Voluntary Market, European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), Regional Green House Gas Initiative (RGGI), Californian Cap-and-Trade and the Australian domestic carbon market. Ben also coordinated the development of the first Australian gas pipeline auctions of storage and physical gas, and oversaw the contract design and implementation for the first exchange traded differentiated natural gas contracts in 2019. Prior to CBL and Xpansiv, Ben was a broker for Tullett Prebon in London for the EU ETS and the UK Power Markets.
Xpansiv Spot Exchange CBL
To provide insights into the evolving environmental markets, Tim Langdon, publisher of Eco Voice, had the pleasure of facilitating a Q & A with Ben Stuart, Chief Commercial Officer & President Transaction Services, Xpansiv:
Q1. What is Xpansiv’s focus when it comes to environmental markets?
Xpansiv provides robust infrastructure, efficiency, transparency, and liquidity to global environmental markets. This includes registry technology on which more than 80% of carbon credits and 60% of renewable energy certificates were issued last year, globally. We also operate CBL, an open, transparent spot exchange for environmental commodities, including renewable energy certificates, carbon offsets, water entitlements, and a variety of other differentiated products. We also recently launched a platform for trading Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), a market we think has great potential. We connect buyers and sellers in carbon, energy and water markets and are the trusted platform for many aspects of the energy transition.
Q2. Has there been growth in trading volumes across environmental products in recent years, and where is the greatest growth in terms of trading volumes?
More companies around the world are developing sustainability and net-zero programs, so interest in renewable energy certificates (RECs), carbon offsets, and other market-based mechanisms is growing steadily. Leveraging environmental markets is critical because there is no way to achieve the level of necessary funding to meet global environmental goals without them. Also, this year, a major area of focus is the development of new offset markets at the national government level, which has the potential to expand the environmental markets significantly.
From our perspective, the environmental markets are constantly evolving. In some ways, they are nearly as sophisticated as the most established markets, with increasingly liquid, transparent spot and futures markets, high- quality transaction and assessed market data and benchmarks, as well as robust same-day, or T+0, settlement processes. In other ways, they are nascent, with many companies and organisations still working on plans to get involved, high price and volume fluctuations, and ongoing refinements to methodologies for the underlying projects.
We are experiencing growth in the number of participants using our services, as well as CBL. The number of firms trading carbon offsets on CBL was up 21% in Q2 2023 compared to the same period last year.
Traditionally, we have seen growth in compliance markets as governments and regulators continue to improve regulatory frameworks and implement market-based environmental solutions. More recently there has been a larger push around reporting as it relates to sustainability in both the public and private sector. As reporting around these important ESG-related criteria becomes more standardised, the resulting transparency will drive action between competing businesses, which will drive further flow in the environmental markets.
In Australia, we’ve seen the safeguard mechanism coming into effect, which has reinvigorated the compliance offset conversation. As time goes on, and as we move closer to the deadline for large emitters to meet the baseline emissions requirements, we expect volumes to grow significantly. We remain bullish on the growth of environmental markets in Australia and continue to be innovators in the markets here, as evidenced by the recent launch of our ACCUs trading platform.”
Q3. How do we get more people to be interested in environmental markets?
Driving interest and creating awareness of the benefits of environmental markets is underpinned by education. By building a solid foundation of general knowledge around how these markets fit into a net zero framework is critical to demystifying the sector. It is important to illustrate the tangible benefits of environmental commodities, which in turn, will drive interest, involvement and acceptance of the carbon markets’ role in the sustainability ecosystem.
Regulatory oversight is also a useful tool to drive awareness from the business community as a whole, given that business leaders need to be up to date with the latest frameworks, or risk running afoul of the local regulator.
Regulatory bodies should enforce transparent, consistent standards that not only protect businesses’ interests, but also hold them accountable for working towards a more sustainable future. A robust framework reassures participants about the market’s longevity and efficacy, and ensures that environmental initiatives remain top-of-mind for responsible corporates.
Q4. How can publications, such as Eco Voice, play their part in promoting a move to more sustainability in your business sector?
Media publications like Eco Voice play a critical role in both raising awareness about environmental problems and the associated challenges, as well as influencing and educating perceptions around solutions, including environmental commodities. Open, honest, and informed dialogue on these important issues has never been more critical, and the integrity of media coverage is an important tool to promote key sustainability objectives. The media’s role on these issues cannot be understated: journalists are influencers, opinion makers and sources of critical knowledge for many, and it is important that they cover environmental solutions to encourage their broader adoption.
ABOUT ECO VOICE
First published in 2003, Eco Voice is your go-to publication for sustainability news in Australia. Eco Voice prides itself as an independent news platform with a clear focus on sustainability, with articles coming from a diverse range of contributors – all levels of government, corporations, not-for-profits, community groups, small to medium sized businesses, universities, research organisations, together with input from international sources. Eco Voice values community, conservation and commerce. Eco Voice is a media partner of the prestigious Australian Banksia Sustainability Awards – The Peak Sustainability Awards.
About Xpansiv
Xpansiv operates the market infrastructure to rapidly scale the world’s energy transition. The company runs the largest spot exchange for environmental commodities, including carbon credits and renewable energy certificates. It is the premier provider of registry infrastructure for energy, power, and environmental markets. It also operates the largest independent platform for managing and selling solar renewable energy credits in North America.
Xpansiv is a leading provider of transaction and advisory services in global carbon, renewable energy, and energy transition markets through its Carbon Financial Services and Evolution Markets units. It also operates the leading multi-registry, multi-asset environmental portfolio management system and market data service.
Xpansiv’s rules-based markets and infrastructure enable stakeholders to deliver transparent, credible, and auditable environmental claims to address the growing global demand for assurance and accountability on climate action and sustainability performance.
Xpansiv Scatter Plot Graph
Xpansiv CBL Spot Exchange GEO
For more information, please visit Xpansiv.com
