Atom bank and Kamma announce major new partnership to tackle risks of climate change

27 September 2023

Alliance combines best-in-class banking tech with best-in-class climate tech to deliver complete view on climate risks associated with the Atom bank mortgage book

Atom bank has today announced a major new partnership with climate tech business Kamma. Atom will benefit from access to Kamma’s full climate suite, offering an unparalleled view on both the physical and transition risks of its mortgage book. Kamma will further provide analytics on Atom’s financed emissions, improved PCAF scoring, and climate credentials on pools of assets for the purposes of securitisation.

Climate-related disasters continue to create misery and loss of life and livelihoods on every continent. Customers, investors and regulators are all waking up to the need for banks to understand what their lending is doing to the climate and be in a position to support a rapid and fair transition to net zero. Alongside new reporting and disclosure requirements for banks and large listed businesses, the government’s legislative pipeline must eventually, but inevitably, contain substantial new regulations and risks for mortgage lenders. Greening the UK’s property stock is critical to driving down costs for households and reducing harmful emissions. Kamma’s solutions will provide clear guidance supporting risk management, regulatory reporting and green asset qualification.

Atom has pledged to become a carbon positive bank by 2035. The bank’s digital, cloud-native business model is intrinsically more efficient and less impactful on the environment than traditional banking models, while its chosen premises and policy for selection of suppliers aims to further help to reduce emissions. The next step for Atom is to address financed emissions, which will include using advanced analytics to help the bank and its customers reduce their carbon footprint. Phase one of the partnership involves a deep review of the mortgage portfolio and strategic support from the Kamma team. Phase two will see the development of new propositions, products and customer journeys that deliver this new strategy.

Kamma has developed the UK’s most advanced view on the climate profile of UK property. This includes substantial modelling and high-grade address matching to close data gaps, data integration and calibration to improve accuracy, and unique analytics that chart a course to Net Zero for UK property.

Commenting on the partnership Edward Twiddy, Director of ESG at Atom bank said: “Banks have a crucial role to play in solving the climate challenge. Too much lending has been done by banks that has not taken account of the impact we are having on the climate, and it is important that this is changing. As a digital bank, we will use the best technology available to ensure we accurately measure emissions, understand risk and then help our customers to reduce their bills, increase the value of their property and be ready for a zero carbon future.

“The damage we have already done is clear, and we do not see any reason to delay action when the evidence and imperative for change is in front of us. I’m delighted that we are partnering with Kamma to benchmark our emissions, manage our risks and most importantly, to provide practical ways for Atom and our customers to face into the future.”

Kamma CEO, Orla Shields, added: “Our strategy is to partner with market leaders in order to support the development of bleeding edge propositions and light a pathway to Net Zero for other organisations. We’re hugely excited about the opportunity to partner with Atom Bank on their climate journey”.