Malta-based commodity trading house Alkagesta has added European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) allowances to its carbon trading offering, a move the company says lets clients cover a wider range of carbon obligations from one desk.

The trader said the decision reflects the scheme's reach well beyond the borders of the European Union. Any company dealing with or operating in EU territory can fall within scope, which makes the market directly relevant to a business that trades physical cargoes across several continents.

Alkagesta trades biofuels, Brent crude, naphtha, fertilizers, jet fuel and other products from hubs including Malta, Singapore, Turkey and Romania. Adding allowances alongside those physical flows gives the company an instrument to manage the compliance exposure created by the cargoes it already moves.

"Trading EU ETS allowances alongside our CORSIA-eligible SAF and biofuels business means we can support clients across a much wider set of carbon obligations from one desk," said Anthony Guida, Biofuels Trading Desk Lead at Alkagesta.

Guida pointed to two regulatory shifts driving demand for that combination. ETS2 is pulling smaller businesses into scope, while RefuelEU blending requirements continue to ramp up. "Having a single trading partner across allowances, credits and physical fuel supply is becoming increasingly valuable, and we're well placed to support that shift," he said.

The EU ETS has operated since 2005 as the bloc's principal carbon pricing mechanism, covering a range of energy-intensive sectors. Shipping was brought into the scheme in January 2024, obliging operators calling at EU ports to surrender allowances against a phased share of their voyage emissions.

For shipowners and charterers, the practical consequence is that bunker procurement and carbon compliance are increasingly decided together. Desks able to quote a physical fuel stem, a compliant biofuel blend and the allowances needed to close out the residual obligation reduce the number of counterparties a compliance team has to manage.

Alkagesta was awarded ISCC CORSIA certification earlier this year, allowing it to supply sustainable aviation fuel into the aviation scheme, and has been expanding its biofuels trading platform out of Geneva alongside its Malta and Singapore operations.