Singapore startup Cyberdyne Tech Exchange (CTE) sold its first tranche of carbon neutrality tokens backed by Chinese carbon credits, according to a Monday press release.
- The exchange said it would sell the tokens, dubbed Carbon Neutrality Token (CNT), back in July.
- CTE sold tokens corresponding to 5,000 metric tons of carbon credits generated by a wind project in Zhangjiakou. Another 5,000 units will be released later this month, it said.
- To issue a token, companies verify their carbon credits with a third-party agency, and then “freeze” the carbon credits at China’s national carbon trading market, according to a July press release. “Freezing” is a bureaucratic procedure by which the firm asks the market trading operator to stop selling the credits.
- Tokens contain “shared carbon information including emission records and tracing, carbon offsetting, carbon capture, storage, and reuse,” according to the July press release, which can help companies prove they are pursuing environmental goals.
- Zhangjiakou is a city in Beijing’s neighboring Hebei province that will co-host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The carbon credits come from a wind project developed by a Chinese state-owned enterprise in Zhangjiakou’s Olympics facilities, according to the CTE website.
- CTE is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. According to its website, it holds a market operator license, necessary for operating an exchange, two capital markets licenses, for asset custody and dealing in capital markets products, and is exempted from the Payment Services Act while it is waiting for its license application to be approved, along with dozens of other companies.
- China launched its carbon trading market in July. The market is predicted to be the world’s largest once it is fully operational.
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