How Abatable helped build Howden's market-leading carbon portfolio

Summary

Howden is a leading global insurance intermediary group that provides insurance, reinsurance and underwriting services and solutions to clients ranging from private individuals to the largest multinational companies.

Howden’s 2025 carbon credit portfolio, created in partnership with Abatable, integrates frontier carbon removal technologies and high-impact nature-based solutions, establishing a new standard for corporate climate leadership within the insurance industry.

Abatable worked with Howden, a leading global insurance intermediary group, throughout the entire procurement process to design and deliver a resilient portfolio that combines emissions compensation and contribution approaches to achieve positive climate impact.

'We wanted to approach carbon procurement in a way that went beyond simply addressing emissions and instead reflected our longer-term thinking on climate risk and resilience. Partnering with Abatable enabled us to design and deliver a diversified portfolio that supports credible climate impact today while helping to scale the solutions needed for the future. It’s a strong example of what can be achieved through close collaboration.'

Tim Rainbow, Environmental Sustainability Manager, Howden

Howden is actively involved in providing underwriting services for carbon markets, having launched the world’s first voluntary carbon credit invalidation insurance in 2022.

In turn, the company is also active in the carbon market as a buyer of carbon credits to address Scope 1 and 2 emissions while applying a contribution-led approach to Scope 3 through projects that deliver substantial co-benefits. As Howden progresses towards its 2040 net-zero target across its buildings, transport and purchased goods and services, it recognised that addressing its residual emissions was not simply a compliance exercise, but an opportunity to engage with carbon markets in a forward-thinking, credible and values-aligned way.

Howden approached Abatable to help realise its 2025 emissions strategy and also design and build a carbon credit portfolio that reflected its long-term approach to risk, resilience and climate leadership, while supporting the development of high-integrity climate solutions.

Abatable used its end-to-end procurement solutions framework to help Howden:

• Plan its climate strategy across emissions Scopes 1 - 3 in line with evolving market standards.
• Source credits through Abatable’s RFP platform, which provides access to over 4,000 carbon project developers and 13,500 unique projects.
• Evaluate projects through Abatable’s independent, tiered due diligence framework, enabling Howden to source high-quality credits.
• Purchase credits through a streamlined contracting process, with Abatable acting as the sole counterparty for all supplier transactions, ensuring delivery security and minimising administrative complexity.
• Manage and monitor, and report on impact through Abatable’s real-time performance tracking, risk alert, and customised reporting tools.

The portfolio delivers verified emission reductions and removals across four continents. It is novel in that nearly half of the projects in the portfolio are next-generation carbon removal projects, positioning Howden among early corporate adopters of frontier climate technologies. These projects sit alongside community-driven natural climate solutions.

This approach creates impact across the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, supports nascent carbon removal technologies to scale, and also spreads risk.

The direct investment in a diverse mix of high-quality climate solutions includes nature protection and restoration, and resilience initiatives for climate-affected communities. Through Abatable’s selection of developers, Howden supports activities ranging from frontier engineered carbon removal and industrial decarbonisation to renewable energy and adaptation solutions, including the replacement of fossil-fuelled irrigation systems with clean, solar-powered alternatives that improve agricultural productivity and strengthen climate adaptation for smallholder farmers.

Benefits for Howden:

• Balancing compensation and contribution climate approaches through an innovative strategy of using durable removals to address Scope 1 and 2 emissions while applying a contribution-led approach to Scope 3 through projects that deliver substantial co-benefits.
• A diversified, high-quality carbon credit portfolio, reflecting best practice in the voluntary carbon market, urced transparently from global developers to Howden’s markets, enabling meaningful carbon impact while mitigating market volatility through fixed portfolio pricing.
• Streamlined procurement and contracting via the Abatable platform and experts to reduce risk and administrative overhead.
• Risk mitigation, with Abatable providing proactive risk monitoring for projects and using contractual buffers to ensure credit supplies would be available.
• Alignment with Howden’s core ESG priorities of supporting the de-risking of the energy transition, community empowerment, and responsible business practices.

Ultimately, Abatable worked with Howden to deliver a pragmatic carbon procurement programme that can be used as a model for all corporates of all sizes.

CUSTOMER STORY

Partnering with Howden to advance climate resilience through carbon markets

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