ICE launches GreenTrace registry for carbon markets

Intercontinental Exchange launched GreenTrace, a registry technology service for carbon credits, emission allowances and energy attribute certificates. Winrock International’s Environmental Resources Trust migrated its ACR, ART and STEPS programs to the platform as the launch partner.

GreenTrace supports the full life cycle of environmental instruments, from issuance to transfer and retirement. ICE said the service applies the firm’s market infrastructure and operational standards used in its financial markets to registry technology.

The migration transferred roughly 437 million serialized credits and more than 40,000 documents tied to issuances, transfers and retirements. Records from 1,162 projects and programs were consolidated and assigned to 857 Registry Account Holders. ICE said the data covered about two and a half decades of greenhouse gas reduction and removal credits.

ICE noted its environmental market operations provide price discovery across multiple cap-and-trade systems and support for CORSIA-eligible instruments. The exchange recorded 20.9 million environmental contracts traded in 2025, representing over $1 trillion in notional value for the fifth consecutive year, with $117 billion physically delivered to registries.

Gordon Bennett, Managing Director of Utility Markets at ICE, described the migration as placing ERT’s programs on “the same technology stack that powers globally systemic financial infrastructure and operates under the strictest financial regulations in the world.” He added GreenTrace extends ICE’s digital network to carbon credits “from inception to retirement, creating the foundation for carbon credits to scale and become an institutional asset class.”

Mary Grady, chief executive of Environmental Resources Trust, said the programs are now positioned to meet institutional investor demand and expressed optimism about further development on the ICE platform.

ICE stated GreenTrace is intended to help registry administrators manage differing regulatory reporting requirements, data formats and legal obligations across jurisdictions. ICE described the migration as among the most complex transitions in the carbon credit market because of the volume of credits, historical records and number of account holders involved.