Chicago Climate Exchange gets new life?

The hostile bid by Nasdaq OMX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to buy NYSE Euronext could possibly breathe new life into the now-defunct Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

ICE bought the CCX last spring and then, with the demise of cap-and-trade, ended the CCX’s carbon trading business in the fall.

But if the Nasdaq and ICE bid succeeds, thereby producing a Nasdaq-ICE-NYSE business combination, the CCX then becomes owned by a much more politically-connected and powerful organization.

We’re not saying that this deal resuscitates the CCX or brings back cap-and-trade, but it could allow the carbon trading pathogen to incubate in a much healthier host.