Monday 26 July 2021
CTX to launch cross-border trading of carbon-neutrality tokens
Singapore-based Cyberdyne Tech Exchange (CTX) has announced plans to debut cross-border trading of its carbon-neutrality tokens (CNTs) next month, backed by the carbon credits of China.
CNTs are digital representations of one ton of carbon credits – the latter are tradeable certificates that allow businesses to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.
They can then sell any unused credits to other companies or pay for green projects elsewhere to offset their own emissions.
CTX – backed by the $2 billion (£1.45bn) Asia Green Fund - has signed a memorandum of understanding with three Chinese entities to facilitate the issuance of the CNTs: CECEP Green Carbon Investment and Development Co, a subsidiary of China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), China Jinmao Holdings' subsidiary Jinmao Capital and China Taiping Insurance Singapore.
The CNTs are backed by carbon credits, green infrastructure, real estate projects and insurance products, packaged as Collective Investment Schemes under Singapore's regulatory regime.
CTX said its CNTs, which contain shared carbon information including emission records and tracing, carbon offsetting, carbon capture, storage and reuse, will pave the way for carbon credits to be transferred across international borders.
For example, a green infrastructure owner in China can participate by getting its carbon voluntary emission reduction (VER) verified by a third party NGO agency. It then permanently “freezes” its VER certificates with the country's national carbon registry.
With the carbon information tracked in the tokens, issuers and investors can have visibility of the carbon footprint of their production activities and investment portfolios.
Dr Bai Bo, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of CTX said: “We are excited with the responses we have been getting from prospective issuers since we unveiled CTX two months ago. They saw the innovation behind our CNT and how it can involve the international community in helping pollutive industries reduce their emissions in a sustainable manner.
“We were able to engender trust at a time when the crypto market was going through uncertainties because CTX is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and built on the robust trading and market surveillance technologies of Nasdaq.”
He added the company is also in talks with institutions in Europe and North America to issue tokens on its exchange but believes Chinese-backed tokens will initially be dominant because of the size of its carbon credits market.
