Markit, a financial information services company, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of the TZ1 Registry, one of the leading voluntary environmental registries which lists the majority of the world’s voluntary carbon and ecosystem standards. The business will now be known as Markit Environmental Registry.
The global market for carbon emissions grew to $126 billion last year, up from $63 billion in 2007 and nearly 12 times the value in 2005, according to a World Bank report. TZ1 has built an efficient and secure registry providing market participants with the visibility they need on the provenance and singularity of carbon credits to trade with confidence. Markit aims to build on this success and provide the data and infrastructure necessary to enable the global carbon market to develop to its full potential.
Lance Uggla, chief executive officer of Markit, said: “The acquisition of TZ1 Registry will give Markit a strong foothold in the fast-growing carbon markets and broader global environmental markets. The TZ1 Registry will lay the foundations for Markit’s overall strategy to support the financial and commodities markets by providing data transparency and operational efficiency. Markit’s expertise in providing market participants with independent, high quality data will enable us to take the TZ1 Registry to the next level.”
Niall Cameron, executive vice president of Commodities, Indices, Equities and Risk Management at Markit, said: “Following the acquisition of the TZ1 Registry, Markit will concentrate on extending the registry service provision and on developing TZ1 Registry’s new RFI service which will improve information flow and transparency in the environmental markets.”
David Antonioli, chief executive officer of The Voluntary Carbon Standard Association, said: Markit’s acquisition of TZ1 is a real boost for the voluntary carbon market as it will reinforce investor confidence in the integrity, transparency and robustness of the market.”
Markit will continue to operate the TZ1 Registry business from its existing locations in Auckland, Wellington, London and New York. Helen Robinson will continue to lead the registry’s operations as part of Markit’s commodities division led by Executive Vice Presidents Niall Cameron in London and Sal Naro in New York.
The TZ1 Registry has more than 350 customers and over 38 million tonnes of registered voluntary emission reductions. It is the only registry worldwide that lists all types of environmental assets including carbon, water, conservation banking and other biodiversity assets. Markit acquired TZ1 Registry from NZX Limited.
