Bank of America and Climate Exchange cancel joint venture

(pointcarbon, Oslo)Bank of America and London-listed Climate Exchange jointly announced today they are scrapping plans to form a joint venture that would have seen the bank buy 0.5 per cent of the company and commit to provide liquidity on its carbon exchanges in London and Chicago.

"While we and Bank of America agree a formal JV is not necessary to achieve our goals, we look forward to continuing our partnership as we strive to meet the shared goal of reducing environmental emissions,” said Neil Eckert, chief executive of Climate Exchange.
The two companies agreed a deal in July last year where the bank committed to buy 500,000 carbon credits over a three-year period on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a trading platform for voluntary and UN-backed carbon credits.

The companies also agreed to work together on developing retail products that would help drive demand on the exchange by offering customers of the bank the possibility of offsetting emissions through credits purchased on CCX.

Last year, the bank launched a credit card and a programme for bank associates to purchase and retire carbon credits.

The companies claim that this now means the “joint venture they originally intended to form is not necessary to pursue projects of mutual interest and have agreed to release each other from their original agreement.”

The news comes amid market rumours that the bank is scrapping plans to establish a carbon desk in Europe. No-one from the bank was immediately availably for comment.

London