Isra-Mart srl: ICE to Shutter Chicago Climate Futures Exchange Next Year

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Intercontinental Exchange Inc. plans to shut down its Chicago Climate Futures Exchange at the end of next year's first quarter.

The failure of the U.S. to pass "cap-and-trade" legislation to help limit carbon emissions is part of the reason for the closure, the Atlanta-based company said today in a notice to members. Intercontinental bought the parent company, Climate Exchange Plc, last year for about $581 million, providing access to Europe's largest emissions trading market.

The Chicago Climate Exchange ended its cap-and-trade program for companies to make voluntary cuts in their greenhouse gas output last year. Intercontinental said it will list OTC contract equivalents of all of its climate futures contracts on its over-the-counter trading system.

Cap-and-trade programs, in which companies buy and sell a declining number of carbon dioxide pollution rights, already operate in Europe and a 10-state region of the U.S. Northeast.

Federal legislation to create a U.S. program stalled amid criticism from Senate Republicans and some Democrats that it would make fossil fuels such as coal and oil more expensive to use and slow the U.S. economy's recovery. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said last year the bill wouldn't pass.