Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has launched ICE GreenTrace, a registry technology platform for managing carbon credits, emissions allowances, and energy attribute certificates. The platform marks ICE's move into the registry layer of environmental markets, bringing financial market infrastructure to carbon credit programs. Winrock International's Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) is the launch partner, migrating three major programs including ACR, ART, and STEPS onto the platform. The migration involved approximately 437 million serialized carbon credits and over 1,100 projects. Registries are the official ledgers for carbon credits, tracking issuance, transfer, and retirement. As institutional investors increase participation in carbon markets, demand has grown for registry systems with stronger governance, higher transaction volumes, and greater transparency. ICE GreenTrace applies technology originally developed for regulated financial markets to address these requirements. ICE reported a record 20.9 million environmental contracts traded on its exchanges during 2025, representing over $1 trillion in notional value for the fifth consecutive year. The launch reflects broader efforts to position carbon credits as an institutional asset class. By moving registry operations onto infrastructure operated by a major exchange group, ICE aims to address concerns around data quality, credit verification, and registry consistency that have historically limited larger capital inflows into carbon markets.
