Press Release: Kita announces partnership with Puro.earth to scale investment in high-quality biochar projects
The carbon insurance specialist also launches proprietary risk framework, developed with GECA Environnement, to effectively quantify and manage risks associated with biochar carbon credits
This partnership with Puro.earth will increase Kita’s ability to manage carbon credit delivery risk for high-quality biochar projects, creating an insurance ecosystem that offers an additional stamp of confidence and quality assurance for scaling biochar solutions.
GECA Environnement, also known as GECA, one of the most knowledgeable private consulting firms in pyrolysis and biochar, has collaborated with Kita to develop a proprietary risk framework for assessing and pricing risks related to biochar carbon removal.
Biochar dominates the ex-post carbon removal market, making up 89% of all retired carbon removal credits, and has some of the lowest barriers to scaling of any engineered carbon removal method according to a BeZero report in May 2023, using data from cdr.fyi.
Kita, the carbon insurance specialist, today confirms the expansion and refinement of their biochar delivery risk insurance product, through a partnership with Puro.earth.
Kita, a Lloyd’s of London coverholder, is partnering with ICROA-backed carbon standard, Puro.earth, to offer biochar insurance exclusively to projects certified under the Puro Standard.
In 2019, the Puro Standard brought the first ever biochar carbon removal crediting methodology to market and the standard continues to lead on transparency and quality assurance. The Puro Biochar Standard ensures that all projects meet the highest environmental standards while guaranteeing net-negative emissions. The sequestered carbon is scientifically measured and independently verified by a reputable third party.
Kita’s pioneering insurance product, Carbon Purchase Protection Cover, will only be available to Puro-certified biochar projects, thus adding an additional layer of due diligence and security to biochar carbon credit transactions.
“Biochar carbon removal is an important climate mitigation solution which needs to reach its full potential fast. While we certify suppliers with the Puro Standard and issue CO2 Removal Certificates (CORC) to help them scale, we also collaborate with innovative partners like Kita to help the market grow. The creation of an insurance product represents a tremendous opportunity to reassure buyers and financiers to accelerate the growth of a supply constrained market. More buyers will now be able to offer prepayments to suppliers, filling some real funding gaps".
Arnaud Defrance, VP of Funding Solutions, Puro.earth
In addition to this, the collaboration with GECA further solidifies Kita’s carbon removal expertise in technological methodologies through the development of a proprietary biochar risk framework. Carbon removal buyers purchasing biochar insurance will benefit from GECA’s far-reaching, market-leading biochar experience and biochar project developers will have clear guidelines for the data required to be ‘insurable’. By working together with GECA, Kita continues to deepen its underwriting capabilities, enabling the provision of policies that are effective and fit for purpose in this emerging and essential market.
“Only a few years after the inception of this nascent market, GECA continues to observe increases in quality of carbon removals provided to buyers in the VCM. Kita, through its delivery risk insurance product for biochar, is providing a powerful de-risking mechanism, needed for buyers to increase their contributions to Net Zero through offtakes and investments. GECA is proud to support Kita in its rigorous approach to carbon insurance, including through the understanding of infrastructure, operational and commercial risks. The biochar sector has been waiting for solutions to scale for 20 years, and we believe our collaboration is one of those solutions.”
Melissa Leung, Director, Business Development & Carbon, GECA Environnement
This announcement represents a commitment to supporting and championing the burgeoning biochar sector and increasing transparency, integrity and investment in biochar carbon credit transactions.
“Demand for credits from biochar projects is huge. Our delivery risk insurance product safeguards transactions and – through our partnership with Puro and work with GECA - adds an extra level of security and transparency to this growing market. Insurance acts as a stamp of confidence, enabling corporate buyers to get the green light for their purchases and continue to make significant headway towards removing carbon from the atmosphere as part of their climate strategies.”
Tom Merriman, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder, Kita
Biochar is a type of charcoal that is produced by heating organic biomass such as wood, crop residues or manure, in the absence of oxygen. This process - called pyrolysis - breaks down the ‘feedstock’ into a solid, stable, carbon-rich material. The biochar end-product has numerous benefits: it can be added to soil to enhance fertility, water retention and crop productivity, it can be used as a water filtration medium to remove contaminants and – most impactfully – it has the potential to sequester carbon for long periods of time, thereby contributing to the mitigation of climate change.
Find out more about biochar and the the ways in which the methodology operates within the carbon market by reading our in-depth blog here.