Ep201 Natalia Dorfman & James Kench of Kita: Gross Written Carbon

Most of my interviewees are good at using insurance to solve
problems, but today’s guests Natalia Dorfman and James Kench of
Lloyd’s Lab Alumnus Kita are taking this to a whole new level.
This is because the problem Kita wants to help solve is what most
would say is the biggest of our generation: Climate change.
Kita’s still going to do this by solving client problems and
making underwriting profits but it is inventing a whole new class
of insurance to do so. Carbon credits are key to the world
hitting its 2050 net zero targets, but as a major and highly
valuable asset they need high quality insurance to be able to
scale up at the speed that is needed if a meaningful positive
climate impact is to be made. If we think of a carbon credit in
its simplest terms as a physical asset like a forest that has
been planted to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the
amount of things that could go wrong is enormous. The trees could
burn down or blow over or die from drought, pests or disease. The
grower might go bust or run off with your money and not plant
anything. Your carbon credit could be nationalised by a foreign
government, or it could be wiped out by a change in the
methodologies of those who calculate these things or it could
just turn out that the trees you have planted might not sequester
as much carbon as expected. There’s a lot of moving parts and my
example is the simplest of many increasing complex and technical
solutions. If we are to make a big dent in climate change we are
going to need to scale a currently tiny industry many hundred
times so that it grows as big as the Oil and Gas sector is today.
That’s where the multiplying effect of insurance comes in. If a
project is insured, a fund might be able to buy into three
projects instead of one and a bank will be able to lend much more
using the same amount of capital. By finding out what could go
wrong the hard way Insurance also helps spread best practice and
adds another layer of due diligence. Whichever way you look at
it, what Natalia and James are building is one of the most
exciting new classes of insurance to emerge since cyber. And it’s
the good kind – insurance with a strong moral purpose, so any
profits can come guilt-free. Natalia and James are really
impressive and I think you’ll find this podcast informative and
inspiring. Half and hour with these two and you’ll have a spring
in your step and you’ll be recommending a career in insurance to
every young person that you meet. NOTES: Here’s the link to the
report we mention. This is well worth a read:
https://resources.oxbowpartners.com/hubfs/202402%20Kita%20%20Oxbow%20Partners%20-%20Gross%20Written%20Carbon%20Report%20(05.02.24).pdf
Natalia and James can be contacted at https://www.kita.earth/
LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:
https://www.advantagego.com/