Press

European Energy Exchange (EEX) and the international derivatives exchange Eurex are further expanding their cooperation in CO2 trading. As of 14 April 2008, options will also be available on the EEX’s EUA future. The new EUA options, in addition to the existing EUA future, expire yearly from 2008 to 2012, they will be tradable between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CET. OTC transactions can be registered until 6:00 p.m. CET. The trading fees for exchange trading and registration of OTC transactions for EUA options are to be reduced by 50 percent by the end of 2008.
Maik Neubauer, member of the EEX AG Executive Board and responsible for the cooperation project there, said: “The introduction of options on the EUA future offer our participants in the emissions market an additional opportunity to protect themselves from unexpected price developments and to structure their portfolios more efficiently.” Peter Reitz, Eurex Executive Board member whose responsibilities include cooperating with EEX, emphasized: “As announced, our partners are continually expanding their offering with this launch, thereby reinforcing their position in the international trade of CO2 emission rights. The new EUA options will continue to drive marketplace growth.” As part of the cooperation, both parties recently announced that the launch of the CER futures would be on 26 March 2008.

With a volume of 1,096,000 EUAs, EEX and Eurex exceeded the one million mark on the emission rights market they operate, for the first time, on Monday, 3 March 2008. This was far in excess of the previous daily record of 600,000 EUAs set on 26 February 2008.