News and Media Releases

Launch of Futures & Options Contracts

15/08/2008

Chicago Climate Futures Exchange® announces the successful launch of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Futures and Options contracts

Chicago Climate Futures Exchange® (CCFE™), a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Designated Contract Market, announces the successful launch of RGGI Futures and Options contracts.

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 today’s 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:
  o Amerex Brokers LLC (GFI Energy)
  o CE2 Capital Partners LLC
  o Environmental Capital Management
  o Royal Bank of Canada
  o 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 federally regulated 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.

For a complete list of products, please visit: http://ccfe.com/about_ccfe/products.html - opens in new window

For more information on obtaining access to CCFE products, please visit
www.ccfe.com - opens in new window
or contact:
Michael MacGregor
mmacgregor@theccx.com
Dan Scarbrough
dscarbrough@theccx.com
(312) 229-5122 (312) 229-5129

About CCX/CCFE

CCX is an Exchange whose objectives are to apply financial innovation and incentives to advance social, environmental and economic goals. CCX, which began trading in 2003, is the world’s first and North America’s only legally binding, rules-based greenhouse gas emissions allowance trading system, as well as the world’s only global system for emissions trading based on all six greenhouse gases.

CCX members are leaders in greenhouse gas management and mitigation, including offset providers and offset aggregators, and located throughout the United States. CCX members derive from all sectors of the global economy, including the public sector, and emissions reductions being achieved through CCX by major utilities, corporations, cities, states and counties, are the only reductions in North America being achieved through a legally binding compliance regime, subject to independent third party verification provided by FINRA and price transparency.

The founder, Chairman and CEO of CCX is economist and financial innovator Dr. Richard L. Sandor, who was named a Hero of the Planet by Time magazine in 2002 for his founding of CCX, and in 2007 as the “father of carbon trading.” For a full history of CCX, full roster of CCX members, daily prices and other Exchange information, see www.chicagoclimateexchange.com - opens in new window.

Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chicago Climate Exchange, is a CFTC designated contract market which offers standardized and cleared futures and options contracts on emission allowances and other environmental products.

Clearing services are provided by The Clearing Corporation, the only active independent futures clearinghouse in the world. Market surveillance services are provided by the National Futures Association, the industry-wide, self-regulatory organization for the U.S. futures industry.

CCX, a U.S. corporation, launched its trading platform in 2003. In 2005, CCX launched the European Climate Exchange (ECX), now the leading exchange operating in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. Since 2006, both CCX and ECX have been owned by Climate Exchange plc, a publicly traded company listed on the AIM division of the London Stock Exchange (CLE.L).

About CE2 Capital Partners LLC
Founded in 2005, CE2 Capital Partners LLC of San Diego, California is one of the largest U.S.-based investors in environmental markets, including those designed to combat climate change, acid rain, smog, particulate pollution and to create more clean energy generation. It recently announced the formation of CE2 Carbon Capital, LLC a company dedicated to building a portfolio of carbon offsets and other assets focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in North America.

About RGGI
RGGI is a carbon dioxide (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. Regulated entities in RGGI will consist of fossil-fuel fired electricity generating power plants having capacity greater than 25 megawatts (MW). RGGI emission targets are for the stabilization of emissions for the first six years of the program (2009-2014) at the program baseline of 188 million short tons CO2.

Emissions cuts of 2.5% annually will begin in 2015. More information on RGGI is available at http://www.rggi.org - opens in new window