After two days of conference sessions, exhibitor presentations and interaction on the exhibit floor, Carbon TradeEx America came to a close at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.   Attendees noted a serious commitment to embrace steps towards a “cap and trade” system in the U.S.  Jointly organized by Koelnmesse, Inc. and the Carbon Markets & Investors Association (CMIA) it brought together more than 864 company representatives, consultants and other delegates.  More than 96 companies supported the event as exhibitors and partners.

Delegates heard a detailed and passionate pledge from Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council of Environmental Quality, outlining the priorities of the Administration’s climate change policy.

U.K. based Debbie Leitner, Managing Director of Marketing & Communications from Climate Change Capital commented,” Coming from a mature carbon market, we are keeping an eye on what’s taking place in the United States. Carbon TradeEx America is a critical industry event and keeps us current on the state of the U.S. carbon market place.”   Added Steven Schleimer, Director of Energy & Environmental Regulation at Barclay’s Capital,” Our group is one of the largest players in the global carbon market. This event helped us to maintain our leadership position and establish relationships with the emerging U.S. Carbon market.” Remarking on the conference sessions, Aimee Barnes, Senior Manager, U.S. Regulatory Affairs at Eco Securities said, “We were impressed with the high level speaker line up which provided a nice confluence of policy makers in the U.S. market.” 
 
According to Adam Nathan, Director of Communications & Public Policy of the Carbon Markets & Investors Association:  “It will soon be a fact that U.S. businesses and consumers will have to put a price tag on carbon emissions. Carbon TradeEx America will surely influence the development of low-carbon technologies and create new opportunities in the low-carbon economy.”

Added Mette Petersen, President of Koelnmesse Inc.:  “We met our goal by providing a quality environment where the industry was able to gather for spirited conversations on the current and future development of the Carbon Emission industry. Chair Sutley’s attendance underlined the importance the current administration places on the emerging carbon markets.  Despite the current economic climate the stage is being set for the development of a mechanism to develop a carbon constrained economy. We are looking forward to working with CMIA and the industry to organize another successful meeting in 2010.”

Carbon TradeEx America is considered the place where the entire U.S. Carbon market is brought together by combining climate policy, carbon markets and emerging opportunities.

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• Climate Change: Carbon Markets, event coverage from The Nature Conservancy
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