NYSE Euronext, Partner Launch CO2 Exchange

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Transatlantic exchange NYSE Euronext (NYX.PA: Quote, Profile, Research)(NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and French state bank Caisse des Depots said on Tuesday they had started a carbon emission rights exchange called BLUENEXT.

The two companies said in a statement that BLUENEXT, of which NYSE Euronext holds 60 percent and Caisse des Depots the remainder, started on Tuesday a spot market in CO2 emission allowances -- emission rights allocated by governments.

Carbon trading allows companies or other groups to trade emission permits to meet caps on pollutants set by governments.

BLUENEXT will also offer a spot market in emission credits -- emission rights obtained by executing projects that reduce CO2 emissions -- as soon as the international transfer of credits is made possible by a United Nations body in Washington that approves CO2 reduction projects, a BLUENEXT spokesman said.

The carbon exchange is expected to set up a futures market in the second quarter of this year, NYSE Euronext and Caisse des Depots said.

The carbon exchange is looking to expand outside Europe, specifically in North America and Asia, its owners said. NYSE Euronext announced in October its plans for a joint carbon exchange with Caisse des Depots.

Exchange operators are eyeing a piece of the global carbon trading market as governments and industry step up efforts to reduce pollution. Boston-based research firm Celent expects the carbon trading market to be worth more than 40 billion euros ($57.7 billion) by 2012, up from 22 billion euros in 2006.

The CME Group Inc (CME.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest derivatives market, has said it was interested in developing carbon trading products, while Nymex Holdings Inc (NMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), owner of the New York Mercantile Exchange, has said it wanted to offer contracts for carbon trading in the first quarter of this year.

NYSE Euronext operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon bourses, the Liffe derivatives exchange in Europe, the New York Stock Exchange, and electronic exchange NYSE Arca in the United States.

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger, editing by Will Waterman)