Xpansiv Secures Lead Investment from Aramco Ventures • Carbon Credits

Xpansiv, a leading provider of market infrastructure for the global energy transition, has finalized a new capital raise led by Aramco Ventures, a leading low-carbon energy and sustainability investor, together with existing investors. This investment will help further develop Xpansiv’s global energy and environmental markets infrastructure solutions and support the company’s investment and acquisition strategy.

Strengthening market infrastructure for sustainable growth

Xpansiv operates the largest spot exchange for green commodities, including carbon credits and renewable energy certificates. As a leading provider of registration infrastructure for the power, energy and environmental markets, Xpansiv also operates the largest independent solar renewable credit management and sales platform in North America.

Aramco Ventures is a subsidiary of Aramco, the world’s leading fully integrated energy and chemicals company. Headquartered in Dhahran, Aramco is investing primarily to support Aramco’s operational decarbonization, new low-carbon fuel businesses and digital transformation initiatives.

The Aramco Ventures investment is part of the Sustainable Development Fund, which focuses on companies that can support Aramco’s goal to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions across all wholly owned and managed assets by 2050. This is in line with Aramco’s broader sustainability goals and commitment to reduce its carbon footprint.

In 2023, emissions from the largest oil company’s scope 1 decreased by 2.4% compared to 2022mainly due to lower hydrocarbon production and changed CO2 emissions methodology for gas processing operations, leading to more accurate accounting.

Scope 2 emissions, in turn, increased by 13.0% compared to the previous year. The company claims that this is mainly due to the inclusion of the Jazan Refinery in the 2023 greenhouse gas emission inventory.

As part of its decarbonization efforts, the oil giant recently invested in US direct air capture (DAC) company CarbonCapture. Additionally, in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan, Aramco has partnered with ADNOC to launch ambitious lithium mining projects.

Aramco Ventures also operates Prosperity7, the company’s disruptive technology investment program. Daniel Carter, managing director at Aramco Ventures, emphasized the importance of strong market infrastructure in driving the global energy transition. He noticed

“We know that markets play an important role in driving the global energy transformation at pace, and we value Xpansiv’s core position as an innovator of new commercial products, markets and market infrastructure at an institutional level to enable these key markets to flourish and scale.”

A leader in green goods and market integration

John Melby, CEO of Xpansiv, expressed his satisfaction with Aramco’s investment, stating:

“We are pleased to receive this investment from Aramco Ventures and existing investors, which not only represents significant support for our organic and acquisition-led strategy, but also our shared belief in the critical role of market infrastructure in accelerating investment in the global energy transition.”

Xpansiv continues to expand its suite of solutions for global energy transition markets. The company recently launched Xpansiv Connect™, a publicly available market infrastructure that facilitates efficient trading and market operations. This strategic investment will enable Xpansiv to further expand its capabilities and support broader efforts towards sustainable energy solutions.

Xpansiv manages over 1 billion asset transfers annually through the SaaS meta-register and portfolio management system at the core of Xpansiv Connect. This system is integrated with 13 leading carbon and renewable energy registries around the world.

Xpansiv logging software supports over 80% of global carbon credits and 60% of North American renewable energy certificates (RECs). In addition, there are new ecological goods such as digital fuels. Its CBL spot exchange has over 90% of the global market for exchange-traded and cleared carbon credits.

• In 2023, Xpansiv market intermediaries transacted nearly 2 billion tons of coal and more than 36 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy.

The company recently completed 11 acquisitions and strategic investments, including a significant investment in Evident, a leading clean economy registry provider and certification body. This investment highlights Xpansiv’s support for the growing international renewable energy certificate (I-REC) market and emerging instruments. These include sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), green hydrogen, biomethane and carbon dioxide removal.

Xpansiv’s investors include prominent names such as Aramco Ventures, Blackstone Group, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie Group Ltd., S&P Global Ventures, Aware Super, BP Ventures, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Australian Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

By leveraging the new capital raise, Xpansiv will remain a leader in the environmental goods sector, supporting innovation and efficiency in carbon credits and renewable energy market solutions critical to achieving sustainable energy goals and reducing global carbon emissions.