ESG Risk Review: Insurance helping to open up carbon credit markets

Carbon insurance is not short of use cases. It is short of capacity.

Oka CEO Chris Slater sets out the core problem plainly: companies face real financial and reputational exposure when carbon credits fail, yet fewer than 1% of corporate buyers are protected by dedicated insurance. He also explains why the market is still undersupplied. The main barrier is not imagination, but data: carbon markets remain too young, fragmented, and opaque for many insurers to model risk with confidence.

“This has resulted in an insurance shortfall, with fewer than 1% of corporate buyers protected by carbon insurance. It represents a major missed opportunity.”

Chris also points to the bigger prize. If insurers can get comfortable earlier in the lifecycle, they can help unlock debt and equity for carbon and climate projects that struggle to attract mainstream capital today.

“Policies that lower costs and de-risk investments may move the needle for institutions that would have otherwise shied away from unfamiliar business models.”

Read the full article in ESG Risk Review.