For years, carbon credit buyers have been expected to carry out their own due diligence before buying, creating inconsistency, confusion, and a lack of trust across the market. So we decided to flip that model. On iCR, from now on, independent ratings and risk analysis are embedded directly into the registration process, not treated as optional add-ons. This is layered on top of the third-party validation and verification traditionally carried out by accredited verifiers. It’s important that every credit tells a true story and our goal is to help carbon credits evolve into a consumer-grade product, rather than an asset class where every single transaction requires its own due diligence process.

We have spent years building iCR as both a GHG program and registry infrastructure for high-integrity climate action. This next step adds an independent analytical layer to that foundation. Validation and verification confirms conformity, ratings help explain quality, and risk assessment helps the market understand delivery and permanence risk. Together, these elements make carbon credits more transparent, comparable, and usable. Not only for carbon specialists, but also for corporates, investors, and insurers that need reliable signals before committing capital.

Carbon markets need the same independent signals that underpin global capital markets. The integration of MSCI Carbon Project Ratings into this new infrastructure will help improve comparability, transparency and access to standardised, reliable data for buyers and investors, enabling them to act with greater confidence and in turn support the flow of capital to higher quality climate projects,

iCR’s market-first initiative to integrate quality and risk assessments directly into the registry, bringing together MSCI’s independent ratings and Kita’s insurer-led risk intelligence, is a powerful example of how market participants can collaborate to make the carbon credit buying process easier for both project developers and buyers. It also demonstrates how coordinated action across the value chain can help drive the market forward. Kita is incredibly proud to be part of this initiative, which not only makes strong commercial sense, but also encourages projects to be designed and implemented from the outset in ways that improve their risk profile and ultimately make them insurable,