New global carbon exchange to launch in Singapore by year-end

Singapore bank DBS (DBSM.SI), Standard Chartered (STAN.L), Singapore Exchange (SGXL.SI), and state investor Temasek Holdings said on Thursday they are teaming up to develop a global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits.

Under increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions and lay out sustainability plans, companies need carbon credits to offset emissions they are unable to remove from their operations.

Climate Impact X (CIX), the proposed Singapore-based exchange and marketplace, is a joint venture between the four companies that is expected to be launched by the end of 2021, executives told a news conference.

It aims to capitalise on Singapore’s reputation as one of the world’s leading financial and trading hubs, supported by a strong regulatory framework, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, told a news conference.

CIX will leverage satellite monitoring, machine learning and blockchain technology to boost transparency, integrity and the quality of carbon credits, a joint statement from CIX’s backers said.

“To catalyse the development of new carbon credit projects, there is a need for more high-quality carbon credits and the active cross border trading of such credits to drive global price transparency,” Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, said.

A global private sector task force on scaling up the voluntary carbon market said last year that the market would need to grow 15-fold to around 2 billion tonnes of carbon credits a year by 2030, with new trading products needed to enable companies to meet goals set under the Paris climate agreement.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/singapores-dbs-stanchart-team-up-global-carbon-credit-exchange-2021-05-20/