For lenders
Credit assessment of contracted carbon removal projects
Can a project deliver and repay its debt? MOTHER assesses the contracts, delivery risks and finances, presenting borrowing capacity, stress results and source evidence in a single case file. The lending decision stays yours.
Credit assessment outputs
Following MOTHER Intelligence assessment, the delivered case file establishes four things: the project’s readiness, its borrowing capacity, its resilience under stress, and the source of every figure.
Financing readiness and outstanding conditions
Each project is found ready for finance, ready with conditions, or not ready. Every conclusion and outstanding condition is documented, so strength in one area cannot conceal weakness in another.
Debt capacity and financing shortfall
Debt capacity is assessed against established lending criteria and compared with the financing sought. Any shortfall is quantified.
Repayment sensitivity under stress scenarios
Stress analysis examines the sensitivity of repayment to output, prices, costs and interest rates. Less established technologies are subject to more conservative assumptions.
Source evidence and its limitations
Each figure is traced to its source, with limitations in the evidence explicitly identified. Access to the case remains subject to the project’s authorisation.
Independent analysis and lender authority
MOTHER does not lend, invest or hold client money, and never stands between you and the borrower. MOTHER is paid for its analysis, never for whether a loan is made, and no fee or relationship can make a failed gate pass.
- Your own criteria, applied in place of industry rules where you set them, and shown in every case
- The credit decision, made on your own judgement and authorisations
- Your terms, pricing and security, set by you and held in your name
- Any decision on default, always yours, never MOTHER's
Lender review and loan terms
1
Specify lending criteria
Specify any institution-specific thresholds to be applied in the assessment.
2
Review credit findings
Review the findings, source evidence and outstanding conditions through your own credit process.
3
Set loan terms
If approved, establish pricing, security and documentation directly with the borrower.
Project eligibility and documentation requirements
- Durable carbon removal across methods, with closer scrutiny of less established technologies
- A signed offtake with a named offtaker, assignable to a lender
- Registered, or in validation, under a recognised standard
- An independent technical review and a financial model with a delivery schedule
- Large enough to warrant project finance
- The same method covers other climate projects with contracted revenue
Illustrative credit assessment
Judge the work before you judge a project. MOTHER has prepared an illustrative case file to the same standard as a live assessment. Our team will take you through the case, and a single confidentiality undertaking then covers every project you review with us.
1
The verdict, with every reason
2
Borrowing capacity and any gap
3
Results under each stress case
4
The evidence behind every figure
5
The rules against which the case was judged
Lending assessment questions
What is the scope of MOTHER’s credit assessment?
MOTHER examines a contracted carbon removal project against industry-standard lending rules and tells you plainly whether it is ready to finance, how much it can borrow, and why. MOTHER does not lend, invest or hold client money. Financing comes from licensed lenders, acting on their own credit judgement and under their own authorisations.
Whose lending criteria are used?
We apply established project finance criteria, such as debt cover, leverage and equity, used the same way on every project. If you have thresholds of your own, MOTHER can apply those instead. Every case shows the rules it was judged against.
How are unmet financing criteria reported?
You are told so, with every reason. A project that falls short receives a case file too, naming each gap and condition. No fee, vote or relationship can make a failed gate pass.
How are offtaker default and delivery shortfalls assessed?
Both are examined before you are asked to decide. The counterparty gate looks at the offtaker and the sponsor, the stress cases model a shortfall in delivery and an offtaker that stops paying, and the case shows how far output, prices and costs can move before the debt can no longer be repaid. Any decision on default rests with the lender, never with MOTHER.
Who verifies carbon removal?
Carbon removal is verified by independent verifiers working under a recognised standard, as the offtake requires. The case examines how delivery will be measured and verified before you decide, and Monitor, in preparation, will record each verified delivery against the contracted schedule.
Is project information kept confidential?
Yes. A single confidentiality undertaking covers every project you review with us. The project decides who may read each record, and anyone can confirm that a document is genuine without seeing what it says.
What project sizes qualify for assessment?
Projects qualify when they are large enough to warrant project finance and hold a signed offtake with a named offtaker. There is no fixed minimum: tell our team what you typically lend, and we will tell you plainly whether a project fits.
Which jurisdictions are covered?
MOTHER is based in London and examines projects wherever they are built, for lenders wherever they are licensed.
How long does assessment take?
Timing depends on how complete a project's documents are. Every project is examined before it reaches you, so you begin from a case file rather than a data room.
What does the sample case file show?
The sample case file presents a complete case for an imagined project: the verdict with every reason, borrowing capacity and any gap, results under each stress case, the evidence behind every figure, and the rules it was judged against. The sample case lets you judge the work before any real project is put to you.
Discuss the sample assessment
Speak with our team about what a MOTHER case file holds, and how it fits your credit process.