The European Energy Exchange (EEX) says its Carbix carbon index offers a reference price for emission allowances to traders on Europe's CO2 market.
The Carbix is a spot market price and is determined in an intra-day auction at 10:30 am every exchange trading day. This gives the market participants a reliable price signal during the morning – in an early phase of the trading day. Because of the close connection of the emission allowances with the value chain in the energy industry, the EEX carbon index does not only form a guideline for the CO2 traders but also for energy traders, such as traders in the power, gas and coal market.
Ten minutes after the end of the auction, the Carbix is published on the internet site of EEX and is also available for downloading via FTP server. In future, it will also be an element of the information products provided by EEX, such as the SMS service.
The European Energy Exchange operates a Spot Market for EU emission allowances in the form of a daily auction and of continuous trading. In addition the exchange started derivatives trading in emission allowances in October 2005.
The intra-day auction provides an important price point in the market and is valuable in allowing companies to manage their portfolio of internal as well as external positions, says Garth Edward, environmental products trading manager at Shell.