24 Jan 2022

CER Carbon Exchange RFEOI Feedback

In April 2021, the Australian Clean Energy Regulator (CER), opened a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) for the development of a carbon exchange in Australia. There were 2 parts to this RFEOI:

  1. Part A: The provision of exchange trading and related market services,
  2. Part B: Provision of registry related services.

We believed that our XStack product was techically ideal for Part A. However the RFEOI document required that respondents have an Australian Tier 1 Exchange licence. Motif Markets was not able to partner with a Tier 1 licensed firm however were able to partner with NCX Hub who hold an AFSL licence which allows creating a market for Carbon related products. In addition, we received some support from two Tier 1 licensed exchanges which we felt was sufficient to allow us to submit a response.

While the chance for us to be selected for inclusion in the 2nd stage (procurement RFP) was low, we considered this an ideal opportunity to build up our marketing experience and gain some exposure. In addition, the CER was offering debriefs to all respondents who were not selected for the procurement RFP stage. The debriefs would provide feedback covering why the respondent was not selected.

As expected, we were not selected for the second stage and we recently received our debrief. Steven Stolk (CER CTO) covered the reasons why we were not chosen. One of these reasons was that settlement and clearing (which have large regulatory requirements) are to be included in Part A. We expected settlement and clearing to be included in Part B. Steven also provided some tips as to how we could improve our submissions for future RFEOIs and tenders. This certainly will be helpful to us as we seek carbon exchange opportunities overseas (and maybe even here in Australia).

We would like to thank the two tier 1 exchanges who supported us with our RFEOI response.

Also, our thanks to the CER for considering our response and we wish them all the best with getting the Carbon Exchange established in Australia.