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Chicago Climate Futures Exchange® (CCFE™), a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Designated Contract Market, announces the successful launch of RGGI Futures and Options contracts.
On August 15 CCFE traded 60 RGGI Futures contracts (60,000 RGGI allowances) and 10 RGGI Options contracts (10,000 RGGI allowances), marking the first exchange traded transactions in the first mandatory, U.S. based CO2 cap-and-trade program.
- Shell Energy North America, a customer of NewEdge Group, was a party to the first-ever exchange transaction in the CCFE RGGI Futures contract. This trade was brokered by ICAP United Inc. and cleared on CCFE.
“As a leader in emissions credits and renewable energy marketing and trading, we are very pleased to support the launch of the CCFE RGGI products and to be the first company to trade these products on the exchange,” said Mark Quartermain, president of Shell Energy North America. “Our participation in the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange complements Shell’s commitment to provide responsible energy solutions that reduce climate change while maintaining a diverse network of supply that helps meet North America’s and the world’s growing energy needs. This diverse supply includes renewable energy and future fuels in addition to traditional energy sources, such as natural gas and crude oil,” Quartermain explained. Highlights from the launch included:
- Lehman Brothers Commodity Services and Digilog Global Environmental Master Fund, LLC. (Tradelink) conducted the first ever transaction in CCFE RGGI Options
- Additional Counterparties and brokers to opening day CCFE RGGI Futures and
Options transactions included:
- Amerex Brokers LLC (GFI Energy)
- CE2 Capital Partners LLC
- Environmental Capital Management
- Royal Bank of Canada
- TFS Energy LLC
“We are very pleased with the market response to our first day of trading in CCFE RGGI futures and options contracts. We were responsive to market demand for low-cost hedging tools in a federally-regulated, cleared and transparent market, and have attracted a cross-section of the main participants in the RGGI market from both the energy and financial sectors. With its diverse offering of futures and options contracts covering a wide range of domestic and international environmental products, CCFE continues to be the world's premier market for environmental derivatives." Said Dr. Richard Sandor, Executive Chairman of Climate Exchange plc.
“As a New York-based company GFI is pleased to be active in the first day of trading of CCFE RGGI Futures and Options,” said Michael Cosgrove, Managing Director and head of GFI’s Energy & Commodity Operations in North America. “As a leading energy broker we believe that the offering of the RGGI futures and options in a federallyregulated exchange such as CCFE will create a new area of added value for GFI’s customers.”
“We are pleased to be an initial trading participant in this important step towards reducing carbon emissions through a mandatory trading system and look forward to the expansion of carbon markets in the United States”, said Gregory Arnold, Managing Partner of CE2 Capital Partners.
RGGI is a CO2 cap-and-trade emissions trading program comprised of ten New England and Mid-Atlantic States that will commence in 2009. RGGI will be the first government mandated CO2 emissions trading program in the United States. The offering of the contracts comes to meet the demand of several of the largest power producers in the region that are already members of CCFE and CCX for a low cost, transparent, and standardized platform to hedge against price fluctuations in the RGGI CO2 emissions market.
