NYMEX and other major market participants form Green Exchange...

NYMEX and other major market participants form Green Exchange, World`s most comprehensive environmental marketplace, to offer contracts for carbon, renewable energy, more
NYMEX Leads Venture with Evolution Markets, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Tudor Investment Corp., ICAP, and Constellation Energy

New Exchange Will Offer Contracts for Carbon, Renewable Energy, and Other Major Environmental Commodities

NYMEX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NMX), the parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX), the world's largest physical commodity futures and options exchange, today announced the formation of The Green Exchange(TM) venture, with Evolution Markets Inc., Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc., Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Tudor Investment Corp., ICAP and Constellation Energy. The new exchange will offer a comprehensive range of environmental futures, options, and swap contracts for markets focused on solutions to climate change, renewable energy, and other environmental challenges.

The Green Exchange products are expected to begin trading during the first quarter of 2008 and will be cleared by NYMEX. The Green Exchange venture is expected to launch as a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated exchange during the first quarter of 2009, pending regulatory approval.

NYMEX Chairman Richard Schaeffer said, "The broad slate of new environmental products will perfectly complement NYMEX's energy complex, enabling The Green Exchange customers to efficiently manage the cost of reducing their 'carbon footprint.' The Green Exchange expects to focus on both global and regional compliance trading while also building liquidity and demand for the highest quality voluntary standards in the market. Underlying all this will be the ability for all market participants to manage risk and take positions in environmental derivatives markets."

Initially, The Green Exchange intends to offer trading in global carbon-based contracts, such as carbon allowances (EUAs) under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, carbon credits (CERs) under the U.N. Clean Development Mechanism, and verified greenhouse gas emission reductions (VERs/VCUs) used in accordance with voluntary carbon standards. The Green Exchange will also offer contracts for U.S. SO2 and NOx emissions allowance trading programs, as well as contracts for national Green-e(TM) certified voluntary renewable energy certificates (RECs).

Evolution Markets President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Ertel said, "Leveraging financial markets is an essential part of addressing environmental challenges such as global warming, and The Green Exchange is the right financial marketplace at the right time. We've identified a set of contracts that address climate change, encourage renewable energy development, and tackle air quality. The Green Exchange will be more than a financial marketplace. It will be an engine behind global efforts to improve the environment."

Nancy King, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Emissions at Morgan Stanley, said, "We believe the global emissions markets represent huge growth potential and are excited to be part of the development of this important exchange."

NYMEX, Evolution Markets, and their partners have worked extensively with utilities, investment banks, environmental brokers, environmental groups, and institutional asset managers to establish a set of contracts that enable market participants to effectively manage risk and gain direct exposure to the global carbon market and other U.S. environmental markets. The group has also consulted with environmental groups to select the highest quality voluntary carbon and renewable energy offset standards as the basis for products.

The Green Exchange venture is in discussions with additional strategic partners from a broad cross section of market participants including banks, brokers, hedge funds, and energy and industrial corporations. It anticipates announcing additional strategic partners in the near future.

Products will be listed for trading on the CME Globex(R) electronic trading platform and for clearing on the NYMEX ClearPort(R) platform. All contracts will be cleared through the NYMEX clearinghouse as regulated futures contracts. In order to ensure broad global market participation, The Green Exchange will have:

* Established links with NYMEX clearing and trading platforms to provide market participants the opportunity to cross-hedge risk and cross-margin positions between established energy and emerging environmental markets;
* Opportunities for all market users to earn equity in the Green Exchange venture by helping to create liquid and transparent markets in its products; and
* Highly competitive transaction fees.

In keeping with its mission to assist in protecting the environment through market-based approaches, The Green Exchange venture intends to offset all of its electricity use with Green-e(TM) certified renewable energy credits, and intends to offset its remaining non-power related carbon emissions through the purchase of voluntary carbon credits, making the exchange fully carbon neutral.