Gallagher And Kita Join Forces To Offer Risk Intelligence Consulting Services For Carbon Removal Projects

Gallagher today announced it has agreed a partnership with Kita, the specialist carbon insurer and a Lloyd's of London coverholder, to launch an industry first risk intelligence consulting service for carbon removal projects.

Exclusively available from Gallagher, the new service powered by Kita's purpose-built carbon removal risk analytics will offer rapid, data-driven insights into project and portfolio risk across the carbon removal landscape providing buyers, sellers and investors with unrivalled insights on risks relating to the likelihood of success.

This helps address the fact that the voluntary carbon market is expanding rapidly, but it is largely unregulated, creating significant risks. This new service can be used for general insight and due diligence purposes on projects, providing firms a level of confidence and knowledge not currently available on the market.

>> In Other News: UBQ Materials Issues Carbon Credits, Accelerating Industry Decarbonization Through Avoided Plastic-Related Emissions

The partnership will deliver a new class of holistic risk intelligence reports, combining carbon risk analysis with business risk assessments of counterparty financials, deal structures, economic viability, and potential liabilities, alongside detailed host-country political risk analysis across the full project lifecycle. It combines Kita's tech capabilities and advanced analytics, which underpins its underwriting, together with Gallagher's knowledge of carbon related risks.

Why is risk intelligence important?

As carbon removal projects become an increasingly popular choice within net-zero portfolios, large corporations and financial institutions are seeking credible, decision-ready intelligence to support purchasing, investment, and financing decisions.

Gallagher's global client base includes many of the organisations now actively evaluating carbon removal as part of their net-zero, investment, or risk strategies.

This collaboration with Kita will ensure Gallagher's extensive client base is served efficiently with the most robust, multi-dimensional risk analysis available in the market.

What makes these risk intelligence reports different?

The reports are designed specifically to support commercial and investment decisions and key aspects are as follows:

• The intelligence underpinning the reports is derived from the insurer's extensive experience underwriting carbon removal projects across multiple project types worldwide.

• Coverage spans a broader range of project risks beyond just carbon risk, including deal structure analysis, assessment of counterparty financials, economic viability, and potential liabilities across the full project lifecycle.

• The assessment also covers host-country political risks, with a particular focus on factors that may affect credit issuance and eligibility (for example, under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) the global programme to control CO2 emissions from international flights, requiring airlines to offset growth above a 2019 baseline by buying carbon credits or using sustainable fuels to achieve net-zero aviation emissions by 2050.).

• The risk intelligence is supported by remotely sensed imagery, including data captured by various air and spaceborne sensors and analysis of those images using specialised software and advanced analytical techniques, including machine learning, to study project performance on the ground and identify risks such as exposure to natural catastrophes.

• Where required projects can be monitored over time to track progress and flag early warning signs if performance deviates from expectations.

• Portfolio-level risk views can be provided alongside individual project-level assessments, tailored to customer requirements.

James Bosley, head of Climate Strategy, Carbon Insurance & Parametric Solutions, Gallagher said: "This is an industry first and a game changer for the voluntary carbon market. This service will enable effective due diligence for firms to better understand the projects they are buying from or investing in and for project owners to provide effective proof of concept. This new service will sit independently from our carbon insurance services which we already offer working with clients worldwide."

Paul Young, CTO and co-founder at Kita, added: "Gallagher's brokers and advisory teams worldwide can now provide clients with a fast, data-driven view of project and portfolio risk across the carbon removal industry. Leveraging Kita's advanced risk analytics, developed through real-world project underwriting, Gallagher will package these reports into a broker-led advisory service providing effective due diligence for corporate buyers and proof of concept for sellers."