CCX Offsets Program

CCX's integrated greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and trading system includes a full portfolio of offset projects. CCX issues tradable Carbon Financial Instrument® (CFI®) contracts to owners or aggregators of eligible projects on the basis of sequestration, destruction or reduction of GHG emissions.

All CCX Offsets are issued on a retrospective basis, with the CFI vintage applying to the program year in which the GHG reduction took place. Projects must undergo third party verification by a CCX-Approved Verifier. All verification reports are then inspected for completeness by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Since the inception of the CCX Offsets Program in 2003, CCX has established programmatic rules designed to provide easy to understand performance criteria for potential Project Proponents. Such criteria allow CCX and CCX-Approved Verifiers to distinguish best-in-class projects from business-as-usual projects and to reduce the subjectivity of project-specific reviews. CCX weighs a variety of factors related to each potential project type such that eligibility would be based on whether or not a particular category of actions provides the following characteristics:

Rare (e.g. best-in-class actions)
Voluntary (e.g. not legally required)
Recent
Verifiable
Properly addresses permanence
Avoids the creation of perverse incentives that would result in increases in GHG emissions on or off the project site
Conservative

CCX rules ensure that all of the identified principles outlined in ISO 14064-2 Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring, and reporting of Greenhouse Gas emission reductions or removal enhancements are adopted for projects to ensure that offsets are issued based upon industry accepted standards.

CCX Rules on Offsets

This document provides the general provisions governing the CCX Offsets Program and the development of CCX Offset Project Protocols, Validation, Verification, and Registration of Offset Projects at CCX. Project specific protocol guidance can be found in the individual CCX Offset Project Protocols.

Chicago Climate Exchange General Offset Program Provisions (Issued 8/20/2009)

CCX Verification Guidance

The Offset Program Verification Guidance Document provides an overview of the requirements for verification of CCX Offset Projects and describes the roles and responsibilities of CCX-Approved Verifiers. This document is intended to be used in conjunction with project specific verification requirements located within individual CCX Offset Project Protocols.

Chicago Climate Exchange Offset Program Verification Guidance Document (Issued 1/21/2010)

Frequently Asked Questions

CCX offsets program protocols and procedures are open to comment from both CCX Members and the general public. Questions or comments may be submitted to offsets(at)theccx.com. Provided below is a summary of answers to questions often posed to the Exchange.

Offsets General FAQ

CCX Offsets Bulletin

These Offsets Bulletins are intended to provide information to the CCX Membership regarding decisions of the CCX Offsets Committee which may have impacts beyond individual projects. Any decisions on rule changes proposed by the CCX Offsets Committee are subject to approval of the CCX Executive Committee and are subject to revision. Please see the CCX Rulebook for a complete list of all rules.

	2009 - 1
	2008 - 1
	2008 - 2

CCX Offsets Report

The CCX Offsets Report is a monthly publication, delivering timely and relevant offsets news and project information.

CCX Offsets Report