Intercontinental Exchange plans 2025 launch of environmental registry services to bring state-of-the-art infrastructure to carbon markets
This news release was originally published on ACRcarbon.org.
ATLANTA — Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, and the world’s largest operator of environmental derivatives markets, today announced plans to launch an environmental registry technology service to bring best in class infrastructure to registries and registry users and support the adoption of carbon credits as an asset class. ICE’s service, called ICE GreenTrace™, is expected to launch in late 2025 and is designed to support registries and registry users across the life cycle of a carbon credit.
Launch partner, Winrock International’s Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), will use ICE’s registry technology service for its world-leading crediting programs: ACR, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) and the new sectoral crediting standard in development for the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA).
ERT launched ACR, formerly the American Carbon Registry, in 1996 as the world’s first private greenhouse gas registry. ART was established in 2018 as the first market-based initiative to incentivize the protection and restoration of tropical forests at scale, also known as jurisdictional REDD+. ERT was selected in 2023 by the ETA Founding Partners to develop and pilot the carbon crediting standard for the ETA to accelerate a clean power transition in emerging and developing economies.
“The ICE registry platform is a leap forward for the technology infrastructure underpinning global carbon markets, providing powerful next-generation digital functionality to all registry users to enhance efficiency and market integration,” said Mary Grady, CEO of Environmental Resources Trust. “Bringing nearly 30 years of carbon market experience to our role as ICE’s launch partner, we are excited to join forces with an industry leader to deliver a transformational platform that supports the market growth required to achieve global climate goals.”
“Building on more than two decades of expertise in analogue to digital transformations across multiple asset classes, ICE now plans to deliver mission-critical infrastructure to the carbon credit market. We selected ERT as our launch partner based on their reputation for excellence, longstanding support of carbon markets, and commitment to a market infrastructure transformation,” said Gordon Bennett, Global Head of Environmental Markets at ICE. “ICE’s technology will bring unparalleled financial market infrastructure to allow customers to more confidently invest in and manage carbon assets at a time when transparency and trust are vital for scaling carbon credit markets.”
Since its inception, ICE has built a global digital network connecting energy and environmental market participants to the tools needed to mitigate risk, achieve compliance, and invest, all within a secure, highly regulated, and transparent operational framework. Today, ICE is home to the most liquid venues in the world to trade energy and environmental derivatives. In 2024, a record 20.4 million environmental contracts traded on ICE, equivalent to over $1 trillion in notional value for the fourth consecutive year with more than $50 billion physically delivered to multiple registries.
To find out more information about ICE’s environmental registry services or to be kept updated on progress, please contact GreenTrace@ICE.com.
About Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds and operates digital networks that connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes helping our customers access mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and efficiency. ICE’s futures, equity, and options exchanges – including the New York Stock Exchange – and clearing houses help people invest, raise capital and manage risk. We offer some of the world’s largest markets to trade and clear energy and environmental products. Our fixed income, data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers streamline processes and capitalize on opportunities. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming U.S. housing finance, from initial consumer engagement through loan production, closing, registration and the long-term servicing relationship. Together, ICE transforms, streamlines and automates industries to connect our customers to opportunity.
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Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 – Statements in this press release regarding ICE’s business that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the SEC on February 8, 2024.
About Environmental Resources Trust
Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, offers trusted solutions to environmental markets to catalyze transformational climate impacts. With the mission of harnessing the power of markets to improve the environment, ERT operates internationally recognized carbon crediting programs, ACR and the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART). Founded in 1996 as the world’s first private carbon registry, ACR has extensive operational experience in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets, having issued over 300 million high-quality, verified CO2 emission reduction and removals credits. ART is the leading global carbon market initiative for jurisdictional REDD+, ensuring the social and environmental integrity of climate results from protecting and restoring forests at scale. ART’s growing pipeline of participating jurisdictions currently includes over two dozen governments on five continents covering 400 million hectares of tropical forests. ERT is also developing the sectoral carbon crediting standard for the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), with the goal of incentivizing steeper and more rapid decarbonization of the electric power sector in emerging and developing economies. The ETA is an innovative carbon finance platform launched in 2023 by the U.S. Department of State, Bezos Earth Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Related Projects
ACR
Winrock has long recognized the threat posed by climate change. ACR, founded in 1996 and operated by Winrock, is dedicated to the belief that markets are the most effective tools to tackle climate change. As such, ACR has developed transparent and science-based methodologies to incentivize carbon reductions in agriculture, transportation and other industries. ACR is also a partner in assuring that California’s landmark Cap-and-Trade Program can manage, verify and credit carbon offsets effectively.