Carbon markets hit $1T
Global carbon-credit trading has topped $1 trillion as exchanges like ICE, Xpansiv and ACX scale up marketplace activity, reshaping climate finance reported. That market expansion is arriving even as U.S. cleantech supports are rolling back — a policy pullback Forbes argued will undercut climate goals and consumer energy costs.
ICE reported its North American environmental markets traded a record 6.2 million contracts in 2025, with its California Carbon Allowance (CCA) market accounting for about 4.2 million contracts. (ir.theice.com) ICE also recorded its largest single trading day for EU Allowances—193,000 contracts—on January 20, 2026, signaling heightened liquidity in major compliance venues. (ir.theice.com) Xpansiv launched a carbon-removals–only trading capability on its CBL spot exchange to enable settlement of tagged removal credits from the ACR, Climate Action Reserve and Verra registries. (anewclimate.com) Market-data platforms and trackers identify Xpansiv as a major global liquidity hub for environmental commodities, including renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets. (tracxn.com) AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) ran the world’s first sovereign blue‑carbon auction out of Abu Dhabi in March 2026 tied to the Abu Dhabi Mangrove Initiative, with pre-auction price estimates around $15–$20 per ton noted by analysts. (thetelegraph.ae) Some industry forecasts put the market at roughly $1.26 trillion in 2026 and growing toward $2.84 trillion by 2033, while The Business Research Company projects about $1.76 trillion by 2030—illustrating divergent long‑term estimates. (carboncredits.com) Forbes’ Current Climate newsletter on March 16, 2026 argued that recent U.S. cleantech policy rollbacks will undercut climate goals and raise consumer energy costs, linking federal actions to weaker domestic support for clean technologies. (finance.yahoo.com) Independent analyses estimate that U.S. clean‑energy policy reversals could impose roughly $1.1 trillion in economic costs by 2035, a figure cited in studies tracking rollback impacts on investment and health outcomes. (insideclimatenews.org) Despite U.S. policy pullbacks, exchanges are expanding product lines and index coverage—ICE’s carbon futures index spans EU ETS, WCI (California), RGGI and the UK ETS—while Xpansiv and ACX push spot and specialized auctions to meet global buyer demand. (ice.com) Analysts and think tanks note global private investment and international markets are continuing to scale carbon and clean‑energy finance even as U.S. federal supports shift, suggesting market growth will increasingly be driven by cross‑border trading and corporate demand. (csis.org)
