Chicago, 18 August 2009 

Chicago Climate Exchange® (CCX®) today welcomed a decision announced this week by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to consider whether the Carbon Financial Instrument® (CFI®) contract traded on CCX performs a Significant Price Discovery Function. 

“We look forward to working with the CFTC as it considers this designation and continues to prepare for growth in emissions trading,” said CCX Chairman and founder Richard L. Sandor. “We think this reflects the increasing maturity of the carbon market and we welcome the critically important function that regulation and transparency plays in new and emerging markets of all kinds.”

This announcement by the CFTC applies to the spot CFI contract traded on the CCX, which operates as an exempt commercial market. Each CFI represents 100 metric tons of CO2 or the equivalent.  CFI contracts are comprised of allowances provided to members of the CCX cap-and-trade program and offsets from qualifying offset projects.

The Chicago Climate Futures Exchange® (CCFE®), a subsidiary of CCX and the world’s leading futures exchange for environmental products, has been a CFTC-regulated designated contract market since it launched in 2004. More than 20 contracts currently trade on CCFE including three carbon related futures contracts: CFI, RGGI, and CCAR-CRT. Volumes for all CCFE-traded products are up 70 percent so far in 2009 from all of last year. For a list of all CCFE products visit:

www.ccfe.com/about_ccfe/products.html