In November, a volume of 62.3 million tonnes of CO2 was traded on the European Energy Exchange (EEX) compared to 9.1 million tonnes of CO2 traded in November 2011.
On the one hand, the increase is due to larger volumes from the primary market auctions which contributed 44.9 million tonnes of CO2 to the total volume. On the other hand, volumes on the EEX secondary market have risen significantly. The traded volume on the EUA Futures Market increased to 14.4 million tonnes of CO2 – which is more than four times the volume in November 2011 (3.1 million tonnes of CO2) and the highest monthly volume in this year. The traded volume on the CER Futures Market totalled 204,000 tonnes of CO2 compared to 74,000 tonnes of CO2 in November 2011.
Also in November, EEX recorded the first trades in EU Emission Allowance spot contract for the third trading period. Until now, 60,000 EUAs have been traded for delivery in the new trading period.
“We started a number of initiatives to attract more business on the secondary market and begin to see the first signs of success”, says Steffen Köhler, Chief Operating Officer of EEX. Recently, EEX launched a new incentive model for the secondary mar- ket which lowers transaction fees for those companies trading higher volumes. EEX waives the annual fee for new customers which apply for the “Emissions only” membership until the end of 2012. “At least as important is the support of Market Makers which quote tighter spreads in the order book,” adds Köhler. There are currently four market makers on EEX, including the new market maker LEAP Trading Ltd. which started quoting in December.
On Wednesday, EEX will launch the Spot Market for Grey and Green Certified Emission Reductions (CER).
Together, EEX and Eurex offer their participants a platform for trading in CO2 emission allowances. In the framework of this co-operation, which was launched in December 2007, Eurex participants can trade the CO2 products listed on EEX and take part in the EUA auctions via their existing infrastructure and a simplified admission process.