UK-insurtech Kita, focused on reducing the risks associated with carbon purchases, has secured £22.5mn in underwriting capacity for 2025 to cover carbon credit risks globally. The increase signals growing recognition of insurance as a tool to reduce risk in high-quality carbon projects.
The new capacity comes from Chaucer, Munich Re Specialty, RenaissanceRe, and Tokio Marine Kiln. Kita’s Managing Director of Insurance, James Kench, noted that these firms support the use of insurance in scaling carbon markets and recognise Kita’s expertise in carbon risk.
They are fantastic re/insurance partners who recognise the value of Kita’s market-leading carbon risk expertise and share our firm belief in the value of insurance to support the de-risking of high-quality carbon projects.
Kita’s Managing Director of Insurance, James Kench
“We are seeing more and more carbon market stakeholders embrace the key role that carbon insurance plays. Increasing our line size will help meet demand for risk management solutions that unlock the necessary financing to scale the sector,” James Kench says.
Kita has also expanded its jurisdictional reach. It now holds authorisation to insure buyers and investors based in the UK, US, Canada, EU/EEA, Switzerland, Singapore, and Australia.
CEO Natalia Dorfman stated that insurance must support the development of risk transfer tools to help the carbon sector reach climate goals. She emphasised the need for investment and capacity to scale credible carbon projects and welcomed the backing of aligned re/insurers.
Carbon is a key element of the climate equation. It is incumbent on the insurance industry to step up and create the risk management tools and build the risk transfer capacity that the carbon markets need to meet global climate targets.
Natalia Dorfman, CEO and co-founder of Kita
“We feel fortunate to be working with capacity providers who share our perspective on insurance as a unique opportunity to enable investment that creates positive impact,” Natalia Dorfman said.
The firm sees growing demand from carbon market participants for risk coverage, and the expanded capacity positions it to meet that demand.
In 2023, Kita has secured a £4mn funding led by Octopus Ventures, alongside Chaucer Group, Hartree Partners, and existing investors Insurtech Gateway, Carbon13, and Climate VC.
The new funding will go towards the launch of the company’s first product, the Carbon Purchase Protection Cover, which insures the purchase of carbon removal credits.
By increasing the trust and protection in carbon removal purchases, it can encourage companies to deploy more capital towards decarbonisation.
Founded in 2021, Kita believes that insurtech is a key way to achieve carbon emission removal goals that are essential to combating climate change.
Insurance can act as a fundamental enabler – by removing risk and increasing trust in the market, insurance will help drive capital to help quality carbon removal projects scale.
Kita’s insurance solutions use sophisticated data modelling techniques to remove carbon delivery risk from buyers and sellers in the voluntary carbon market, thus enabling development and accelerating climate impact.
Kita also launched its full-spectrum Active Risk Monitoring services for the carbon markets. Since March 2024, these services were available to select stakeholders but are now open to a broader market audience.
The expanded offering covers all stages of the carbon lifecycle. Project developers, buyers, and investors gain access to enhanced upfront due diligence and ongoing risk management. This service aims to increase transparency and reduce uncertainty throughout the project cycle.
Kita models risk in ex-ante projects daily as part of its insurance underwriting, which focuses on enabling investment into early-stage projects.
This process has enabled the development of a proprietary risk model built on robust data and industry insights spanning a broad range of market projects.
