Global Energy and Commodities Consortium Completes Landmark Responsibly Sourced Gas Agreement
August 31, 2021 - Press releases
- Procurement First-Ever to Employ Digital Registry Tracking Gas Origin, Emissions Intensity
- Énergir to Receive Natural Gas from Pacific Canbriam Energy Certified under the EO100™ Standard
CALGARY, August 31st, 2021 – A consortium of leading energy and commodities market participants has collaborated to execute the first-ever Responsibly Sourced Gas (RSG) supply agreement, using the Xpansiv Digital Fuels Registry™ to validate and register the gas’s origin, energy content, and methane intensity, derived from independent data sources.
Macquarie Energy Canada, Ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary of Macquarie Group (“Macquarie”) will supply Québec’s leading natural gas distributor Énergir with natural gas from Pacific Canbriam Energy, a certified producer under the Equitable Origin EO100TM Standard for Responsible Energy Development. The physical natural gas will be bundled with Digital Natural Gas (DNG™), a registered digital asset derived from real-time production data as defined by Xpansiv’s Digital Fuels Program. The registered DNG attributes are recorded in an immutable digital certificate, enabling the owner to retire and claim the digital asset to meet ESG goals.
The transaction is the result of extensive collaboration between Énergir, Xpansiv, Equitable Origin, Pacific Canbriam Energy, and Macquarie. These companies share a vision to transition toward a lower-carbon economy.
“Customers and stakeholders are seeking to participate in the energy transition, and through this initiative we’re pleased to offer natural gas sourced with greater transparency, aligned with current ESG thinking,” said Vincent Regnault, Énergir Director of Gas Supply and development of Renewable Gases.“This milestone transaction marks significant progress toward reaching our target of contracting 100% of our system gas supply through our Initiative for the Responsible Procurement of Natural Gas by 2030.”
“Macquarie is engaged in a variety of projects to advance the energy transition,” said Craig Fisher, a Senior Managing Director at Macquarie. “The establishment of a digital registry is an important innovation that establishes unprecedented levels of transparency and detail, which will further catalyze the certified natural gas market.” Macquarie leveraged its expertise in physical commodities and environmental markets to structure the transaction, collaborating with Pacific Canbriam Energy to arrange the supply and logistics of the delivery.
“We’re excited to be part of this transaction that represents years of development and refinement focused on delivering ESG market infrastructure that ensures integrity,” said Xpansiv Sustainability Director Jeff Cohen. “This incentivizes cleaner fuel production, accelerating progress toward net zero.”
“Canada is a leader in responsibly sourced energy and is uniquely positioned to support climate change mitigation, sustainable development, and overall wellbeing around the world,” said Paul Myers, President of Pacific Canbriam Energy. “This transaction delivers on the purpose of Pacific Canbriam Energy — we’re pleased to have contributed to a first-of-its-kind responsibly sourced natural gas agreement with outstanding collaborators.”
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About Énergir
With more than $8 billion in assets, Énergir is a diversified energy business whose mission is to meet the energy needs of approximately 530,000 customers and the communities it serves in an increasingly sustainable way. Énergir is the largest natural gas distribution company in Quebec; through its joint ventures (1), it also generates electricity from wind power. And through its U.S. subsidiaries and other investments, Énergir has a presence in close to 15 states, where it generates electricity from hydraulic, wind, and solar sources; it is also the largest electricity distributor and the sole natural gas distributor in the State of Vermont. Énergir values energy efficiency and invests its resources and continues its efforts in innovative energy projects such as renewable natural gas and liquefied and compressed natural gas. Through its subsidiaries, it also provides a variety of energy services. Énergir strives to become the partner of choice for those seeking a better energy future. https://energir.com/en/
About Equitable Origin
Equitable Origin is a non-profit organization that created the first market-based mechanism to recognize and reward responsible energy producers and to empower energy purchasers through independent, site-level certification. The EO100™ Standard for Responsible Energy Development is grounded in a set of comprehensive, globally applicable ESG performance targets developed with extensive stakeholder input. The EO100TM Standard includes five core principles: corporate governance and ethics; social impacts, human rights and community engagement; Indigenous Peoples’ rights; occupational health & safety and fair labor standards; and environmental impacts, biodiversity and climate change. Certification against the EO100™ Standard promotes best practices and drives improvements in ESG performance while enabling a market for differentiated energy production. www.energystandards.org
About Macquarie Group
Macquarie Group Limited is a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management and finance, banking, advisory and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs 16,459 people globally. As of March 31, 2021, Macquarie had assets under management of $428.3 billion. www.macquarie.com
About Pacific Canbiam Energry Limited
Pacific Canbriam Energy Limited is a private exploration and production company with a focus on liquids-rich natural gas development. Its principal producing properties and acreage positions are in the Altares and Kobes Montney regions of northeast British Columbia. Pacific Canbriam is an industry leader in water management and recycling, and unique in the ownership of all infrastructure. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta with an office in Fort St. John, British Columbia. https://www.pacific-canbriam.ca/
About Xpansiv
Xpansiv is the global marketplace for ESG-inclusive commodities. These Intelligent Commodities™ bring transparency and liquidity to markets, empowering participants to value energy, carbon, and water to meet the challenges of an information-rich, resource-constrained world. The Digital Fuels Registry enables commodities to be valued based on myriad production and environmental factors and certifications. Producers may then register these data sets as digital assets for transfer or trading on the company’s CBL exchange. Other company units include XSignals, which provides end-of-day and historical market data, and EMA, the leading multi-registry portfolio management system for ESG-inclusive commodities. Xpansiv.com