Session: How to make the most out of the existing U.S. environmental markets  Trading Dynamics
Existing Environmental Markets Trends - SO2/NOx, RGGI RECs

Samantha Unger is the Director of Western US Environmental Markets at Evolution Markets Inc. Working from Evolution Markets’ San Francisco office and the company’s New York headquarters, she assists US-based corporations, institutional buyers, and other interested organizations in implementing risk management strategies for West Coast regional environmental markets.

Ms. Unger, a specialist in California’s various emissions trading markets, manages Evolution Markets’ West Coast emissions brokerage practice. Evolution Markets provides brokerage services to companies participating in the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Regional Clean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM), California’s various emissions reduction credit (ERC) markets, and other emerging Western U.S. emissions markets, including mobile source ERC markets in California.

Ms. Unger is also a member of Evolution Markets’ Global Carbon Markets team that serves clients on six continents from offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Beijing, and New Delhi. She advises compliance entities, carbon offset project developers, and other market participants on strategic approaches to emerging regional carbon markets in the Western U.S., including California’s AB 32 carbon market and the Western Climate Initiative.

In addition, Ms. Unger provides structured transaction and trade execution services for emerging U.S. water markets. This includes advising clients on and facilitating trades in ground water rights, storage capacity and wetlands markets. She also provides her clients with customized solutions for the efficient use of water resources.

Ms. Unger joins Evolution Markets with extensive experience brokering a variety of emissions transactions among US-based counterparties. Since the Fall of 1999, she has actively facilitated trades of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and sulfur oxides (SO_x) under the RECLAIM program, as well as trades in ERCs for NO_x, SO_x, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM₁₀) under multiple California air quality districts, such as the South Coast, San Joaquin, and Bay Area.

Ms. Unger is an active member of regional governmental and industry working groups facilitated by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association, and the Manufacturers Council of Central Valley (CA). In this capacity, she participates in environmental regulatory rulemaking and provides expert counsel on environmental market design.

Prior to her work in emissions trading markets, Ms. Unger managed grassroots marketing and promotional programs for major record labels, music festivals and concerts, bands, and New York-area clubs. Ms. Unger graduated cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Policy.