• Climate Impact X and Carbonplace plan to merge, combining carbon trading, custody, settlement and multi-registry infrastructure across Singapore and London.
• The transaction requires approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and will create a shareholder base spanning major global banks and climate investors.
• The companies are positioning the merger around rising Article 6 activity, aviation compliance demand and the need for institutional-grade carbon market infrastructure.

Climate Impact X and Carbonplace have agreed to merge, bringing together two carbon market platforms backed by global banks, exchanges and climate investors.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore must approve the transaction because several shareholders are regulated financial institutions. Climate Impact X CEO Oi-Yee Choo will lead the combined business, while Carbonplace CEO Scott Eaton will serve as President.

Both companies will continue operating under their existing brands during the integration period, which is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2027.

Building institutional carbon market infrastructure

Climate Impact X, or CIX, operates markets for carbon credits, renewable energy certificates and other environmental products. Its capabilities include procurement, trading and price discovery.

Carbonplace provides carbon portfolio management, multi-registry access and settlement infrastructure designed for institutional participants.

Bringing those services together is intended to create a more complete transaction chain. Market participants could move from sourcing and trading credits through settlement, custody and eventual retirement using connected infrastructure.

Choo said: “Scaling access and liquidity to meet the growing needs of global carbon markets requires robust, trusted infrastructure. This infrastructure must work across voluntary and compliance schemes, and across geographies and standards.”

The two companies have already tested that model. In 2022, they conducted a pilot transaction in which carbon credits were traded through CIX before being processed and settled through Carbonplace.

Client demand for a simpler structure helped drive the merger.

“In order to truly transact seamlessly, you really want to be able to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to hold my assets in my Carbonplace wallet. I want to move to a marketplace or an exchange where I can see prices and interact with other clients. But wait, do I have to move to that platform?’ “So it’s really about responding to client needs and a rationalisation in my mind of the various steps,” Eaton said.

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Compliance markets raise the infrastructure stakes

The merger comes as carbon markets expand beyond voluntary corporate purchasing.

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is creating frameworks for cross-border transfers of carbon credits. At the same time, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation is increasing compliance-driven demand from airlines.

Governments are also seeking to mobilise private capital. Singapore, the UK and Kenya are among countries involved in the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets.

Choo said those developments create demand for deeper financing infrastructure.

“If you see what’s happening with the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets, and where governments are wanting to mobilise capital at scale, it means they cannot just sit with the endpoints anymore. It means that there’s actually a layer of financing – bank financing, equity financing – that needs to happen to help grow carbon markets,” noted Choo.

For investors and corporate buyers, the issue is increasingly not only whether credits exist, but whether transactions can be executed with sufficient custody, auditability and regulatory confidence.

Eaton said: “A trade is only as good as the infrastructure that completes it – knowing a credit has genuinely changed hands, can be held securely and retired with a clear audit trail. By combining Carbonplace’s multi-registry access and direct ownership model with CIX’s leading exchange, participants can transact with the certainty and auditability institutions expect. That’s where we can make a difference – for the carbon market to succeed, it must scale like financial markets did.”

Global banks deepen their carbon market exposure

The combined shareholder group will include BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIBC, DBS Bank, GenZero, Mizuho Financial Group, National Australia Bank, NatWest Group, SGX Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and UBS.

The equity split and name of the combined company have not yet been disclosed.

For C-suite leaders and investors, the merger reflects a broader shift in carbon markets. Trading venues alone may not be enough as compliance frameworks expand and institutional capital moves into the sector.

Connecting Singapore’s carbon trading ecosystem with London’s financial markets could help establish more consistent infrastructure across regions. That will become increasingly important if carbon markets are to support larger cross-border capital flows under both voluntary and regulated climate frameworks.