In this episode of the Carbon Exposure Project, we sit down with Scobie Mackay, Co-Founder & CEO of Imperative, to unpack what it will take to make nature a genuinely investable asset class.

Scobie brings a rare perspective — combining 15+ years in structured finance at Macquarie and Standard Chartered with hands-on experience developing infrastructure-grade nature-based carbon removal projects across the Global South.

We explore why capital has struggled to flow into nature at scale, why delivery and reputational risk remain misunderstood, and why the risk of climate inaction is still not being priced into financial decision-making — despite trillions of dollars at stake.

This is a conversation about projects, execution, and capital discipline, not theory.

🔍 What we cover

• Why the risk of climate and biodiversity inaction remains off balance sheet
• Treating nature-based carbon projects like infrastructure, not offsets
• Professionalising project development to attract institutional capital
• Delivery risk, permanence, and why “day-one diligence” isn’t enough
• Building large-scale native ecosystem and mangrove restoration projects
• Long-term offtakes, insurance, and managing commodity price risk
• Why biodiversity outcomes are already commanding a market premium

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:30 From finance to climate

05:20 Climate and biodiversity as a test of collective intelligence

06:40 Discovering carbon markets

08:40 Why institutional capital struggles with carbon projects

11:15 Treating nature projects like infrastructure

14:45 Imperative’s focus: nature-based removals

17:00 Flight to quality and removals

20:10 Execution risk and project controls

24:00 In-house execution and long-term operations

27:40 Risk in carbon markets

32:10 Pricing the risk of climate inaction

40:00 Insurance, offtakes, and delivery guarantees

46:50 Biodiversity premiums and market signals

53:00 Making nature investable

How Verity Nature is Planting 4 Billion Trees in Kenya 🌳 | Duncan Van Der Merwe

In this episode of Carbon Exposure, we sit down with Duncan Van Der Merwe – Co-founder & Chair of Verity Nature to unpack one of the world’s most ambitious nature-based climate programmes.

Verity Nature is a profit-for-purpose company that designs, builds and operates large-scale nature restoration projects with local communities at the centre. From their base in Australia, with teams in New Zealand, East Africa and beyond, they focus on high-integrity carbon and co-benefit credits backed by science, technology and long-term operations. 

Their projects span reforestation and landscape regeneration in New Zealand (e.g. Black Hill Station in Canterbury and a large natural regeneration programme in the Chatham Islands) and blue carbon restoration pilots in Australia, where they’re restoring coastal and tidal ecosystems as future carbon sinks. 

At the heart of this conversation is Kenya. Under President Ruto’s national drive to plant 15 billion trees by 2032, the Kenyan government has asked Verity Nature to help restore degraded landscapes at unprecedented scale. 

Verity has proposed reforesting up to 4 billion native trees as part of this effort – potentially the largest ARR (Afforestation/Reforestation/Revegetation) programme in the voluntary carbon market. Their model combines:

Infrastructure-grade project design – 40-year operations with long-term permanence rights

Community-led restoration – partnering with local organisations like CCB Corridors and using mobile tools (e.g. “Si Si Na Miti”) so farmers and grandmothers can plant trees, track survival and earn income

Tech from satellites to blockchain – remote sensing, MRV and digital traceability to show exactly where credits come from and how trees are performing over time

What we cover: 

00:00 – Introduction: Why Nature-Based Removals Need Infrastructure Thinking

04:30 – Verity Nature’s Model: Building & Operating Long-Term Projects

09:00 – Why East Africa? Strategic Focus on Kenya and Uganda

14:00 – The Kenya Project: Tying into President Ruto’s 15-Billion-Tree Vision

19:30 – Planting Up to 4 Billion Trees: Scale, Design and Execution

25:00 – Communities, Farmers and Grandmothers: Why Women Are Central

31:00 – Tech Stack: From Satellites to Blockchain for Integrity & MRV

38:00 – Risk Management & Delivery: Avoiding the Non-Delivery Trap

45:00 – The 400M Credit Pipeline & the 2030 Removals Gap

51:00 – What Buyers Should Do Now & Closing Reflections

Saudi Arabia is moving fast: top-down ambition, patient capital, and a vision to scale carbon markets across the entire Arab region.

In this episode, Erik Ringvold — Chief Business Development Officer at the Saudi Voluntary Carbon Market Company (VCM) — breaks down how the Kingdom is building the infrastructure, the demand base, and the regional alliances to make it happen.

And momentum is accelerating: VCM recently announced major partnerships with MSCI Carbon Markets to bring advanced carbon market intelligence to Saudi companies, and with BeZero Carbon to strengthen credit quality and transparency across its exchange.

What we cover:00:00 – Introduction & Tunisia Setting

01:43 – Erik’s Journey into Carbon Markets

02:55 – From McKinsey to Carbon Market Development

06:26 – Why Saudi Arabia Has the Ingredients for a Carbon Hub

11:50 – Building Integrity and Confidence in the VCM

14:46 – The Role of Corporates and Perverse Incentives28:30 – Financing, Demand Signals & Market Fundamentals

29:41 – Nature-Based vs. Durable Removals

32:19 – Regional Collaboration Across the Arab World

33:52 – The Tunis Auction & Interconnected Order Books

36:30 – Global Participation & Future Outlook

The Carbon Exposure Project is back to wrap up Season 3 of the Carbon Exposure Project after the summer break!

This week, we sit down in Singapore with John Sharp, co-founder of Hatcher — an investor, technologist, and builder who has helped raise hundreds of millions for nature-based climate projects.

John brings a rare investor’s lens to the voluntary carbon markets: what really happened after the Guardian exposé, why investor confidence evaporated, and how capital is now pivoting toward infrastructure-grade climate solutions.

From the rise and fall of Carbon Nation to bold bets on green steel, carbontech, and even a space-based sunshield, this episode explores where the next generation of climate investments will come from — and what makes them truly bankable.

💡 In this episode:

💸 The Carbon Nation story — raising $250M for nature-based solutions before the 2023 crash

📉 How sentiment collapsed after the Guardian article — and what that meant for investors

🏗️ The shift toward infrastructure-grade assets: green steel, cement, and carbontech

🌍 What makes a project “bankable” in climate finance

🚀 John’s next frontier: Earth Guard, a satellite project designed to stabilize Earth’s temperature

Chapters: 

00:00 – Introduction: From Music to Markets

05:30 – Building Hatcher: Automating Venture Capital

07:00 – Entering Carbon: Launching Carbon Nation

09:30 – Market Shock: The Guardian Article & Carbon Crisis

15:00 – Lessons from the Field: Soil, Cookstoves & Mangroves

23:40 – Pivoting Strategy: From Carbon to Green Infrastructure

34:50 – The Bigger Picture: How Large Is the Carbon Market Really?

38:00 – Policy & the Politics of Carbon Pricing

45:00 – Investing in Climate Tech: Hardware, Deep Tech & Patience

55:30 – Beyond Earth: The Earth Guard Project

During the IETA European Climate Summit held in Lisbon, we spoke with some inspiring voices at the conference. In this European Climate Summit Special Episode, we're joined by Head of Projects & Legal at ONE TRIBE. Welcome to the Carbon Exposure Project!

During the IETA European Climate Summit held in Lisbon, we spoke with some inspiring voices at the conference. In this European Climate Summit Special Episode, we're joined by Stephanie Zhu, former sustainability member at Delta Air Lines, and now active as Director of Climate at Yum! Brands.

Topics discussed:

00:00 – introduction

A light intro leading into the live recording at the European Climate Summit.

01:25 – Stephanie Zhu’s Sustainability Journey

From finance to ESG leadership at Delta Airlines and Yum! Brands.

03:42 – Inside Delta: Navigating the Voluntary Carbon Market

A first-hand look at how one of the world’s biggest airlines approached offsets.

05:10 – Reduce and Invest: A Dual Strategy for Decarbonization

Why internal reductions and external investments must go hand-in-hand.

06:57 – Carbon Markets Are Complicated—Here’s Why

Challenges in understanding offsets, additionality, and building a credible portfolio.

10:55 – From Aviation to Agriculture: Cross-Sector Climate Strategy

The different decarbonization hurdles across industries—and how to tackle them.

14:05 – The Voluntary Paradox

Why companies taking climate action face more scrutiny than those doing nothing.

16:00 – A Pragmatic Path Forward for Corporate Climate Action

Let’s not let perfection stall progress—what realism looks like in sustainability.

During the IETA European Climate Summit held in Lisbon, we spoke with some inspiring voices at the conference. In this European Climate Summit Special Episode, we're joined by David Antonioli, former Founder & CEO of Verra.Topics discussed in this episode:00:00 – Introduction

02:32 – David’s new paper: “Financing the Transitions the World Needs”

03:41 – Rethinking carbon markets: key insights from the report

06:03 – Biochar: a case for real-world carbon solutions

09:04 – Developer vs. biochar business: shifting identities

11:29 – “On paper” vs. reality in project scalability

14:58 – The “three buckets” of climate project economics

18:03 – Keeping projects operational & long-term thinking

21:03 – Market incentives and insetting as cost strategies

24:03 – Rewriting the climate narrative & new leadership

27:03 – Global insights and financial infrastructure reform

28:26 – A new paradigm for transition-focused markets

30:03 – Carbon credits as tools, not destinations

During the IETA European Climate Summit held in Lisbon, we spoke with some inspiring voices at the conference. In this European Climate Summit Special Episode, we're joined by Sandra Pinzón García, Founder & CEO of Global Zero Waste. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the episode!

Topics discussed in this episode:

00:00 – Introduction & Sandra’s mission in circular economy

01:26 – From carbon markets to plastic credits

02:54 – Defining circular economy: water, energy & materials

06:03 – The rise of plastic credits & Cercarbono partnership

09:04 – Building a new methodology for global recycling projects

10:24 – Innovation, R&D and project transformation

14:53 – Scaling impact through zero-waste strategies

18:37 – Sandra’s reflections on climate leadership

In this new episode of the Carbon Exposure Project, Rene Velasquez sits down with Oi-Yee Choo, CEO of Climate Impact X. Together, they dive into a dynamic conversation on the evolution of carbon markets, regulatory clarity, and the future of climate finance—offering sharp insights from both financial and sustainability perspectives.In this episode, the following topics are discussed:

00:00 – Intro & Oi-Yee’s path into carbon markets

06:43 – From banking to fintech to impact

11:08 – REITs, tokenization & new asset classes

15:37 – Market building: trust, structure & growth

18:15 – Risk aversion & regulatory clarity

20:36 – ASEAN cooperation & Singapore’s role

26:58 – Why governments must build confidence

29:43 – Oi-Yee's market experience as CEO

35:34 – The myth of oversupply & demand lag

38:40 – What the market needs now

44:43 – Aviation & urgency in decarbonization

48:30 – Shipping & new sectoral demand

51:39 – Tech players & CDR

57:30 – The future of the market

this episode, we're joined by Daniel Lee, an Associate Professor in Carbon Markets at the Nanyang Business School. Before transitioning to academia full-time, he spent close to 18 years in the industry, where he undertook a variety of roles across the Energy and Decarbonization value chains, including Commodity Trading, Acquisitions & Divestments, and Capital Project Delivery.

This episode's discussed topics:

00:00 – Welcome & Introduction

Setting the stage for the conversation and the importance of carbon market education.

01:50 – Daniel’s Journey: From Trading Desks to Academia

A look at Daniel’s professional background, early involvement in carbon markets, and the winding path to teaching.

07:23 – Why Academia? Daniel’s Motivation to Teach

What inspired the transition from industry to education—and why giving back matters.

10:13 – Building the Carbon Market Academy at NTU

How NTU’s new initiative is shaping future talent for the carbon services and trading sector.

21:50 – Evolving Carbon Markets & The Need for Continuous Learning

Insights into the current state of carbon markets and the importance of staying sharp in a transforming space.

30:10 – Why Education is the Backbone of Climate Finance

Exploring the critical role of structured learning in empowering new and existing professionals in the space.

34:52 – What Motivates the Next Generation to Join Carbon Markets?

Understanding the perspectives, anxieties, and hopes of students and young professionals entering the field.

42:25 – Singapore’s Carbon Hub Vision

How Singapore is positioning itself as a global carbon market hub—and what’s driving its rapid ecosystem growth.