Standard Chartered expands energy transition desk

Standard Chartered (StanChart) Bank has outlined a plan to expand its energy transition desk, formed earlier this year, which handles the bank's trade natural gas and carbon.

The expansion comes following the bank's announcement on how StanChart will meet its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions in its financial activity by 2050, reads a press statement on Tuesday.

According to StanChart's latest announcement, its energy transition business will initially encompass carbon trading on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and Financial Natural Gas trading, bringing them together onto a single desk.

Launched in August, the desk has so far assisted numerous clients in their needs across the global gas markets and European ETS.

StanChart plans to expand the desk's range of activities by covering physical gas, other mandatory emissions schemes, and the voluntary carbon markets by 2022.

"This is an exciting step for the business and our carbon trading capability within financial markets. With COP26 underway and with it, the hope of establishing a global carbon market, our energy transition desk aligns with the bank's strategic commitment to help accelerate the world to "net-zero" by helping our clients achieve our collective goals on transitioning," Chris Leeds, head of Carbon Markets Development at StanChart said regarding the expansion. 

Faraaz Mir, head of Energy Transition Trading, said, "Standard Chartered is in a unique position, between the developed and developing markets, East and West and is able to bring its capital and clients together to help solve this global issue. Using our collective experience in the Energy markets the Energy Transition team will help and assist our clients in their plans to achieve net-zero."

According to the Paris Agreement, the world needs to rapidly transition to a low carbon economy, halving carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050 to limit the rise in global temperatures by 1.5℃.