The European Climate Exchange said its futures trade in carbon emissions credits has hit a million tons a day, Reuters reports. This comes after it launched the contracts in March from developing countries based on a U.N.-scheme.

Patrick Birley, ceo, said it was difficult to predict forward volumes but saw no threat for a host of new exchanges that are likely to sprout from New Zealand to the U.S., as these countries come up with their own carbon trading schemes.

"For us the most important thing is to build up greater liquidity. The important thing is the market grows. The competition among exchanges is not really important," Birley told Reuters in Singapore.

ECX, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Climate Exchange Plc, is the world's largest exchange for trading carbon derivatives based on the European Union's Emissions