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
⏱️ 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