JPMorgan Executive Calls Out ‘Vague’ Contracts in Carbon Markets

An executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co. has warned that developers of carbon-credit projects may struggle to find banks to finance deals, unless the purchase contracts they enter live up to a number of basic standards.

“Ultimately, banks really don’t like unproven risks so if a contract is vague and depends on future talks, that gives the credit officers very little certainty and they’re very uncomfortable with that contingency,” Genevieve Ding, the bank’s Asia Pacific head of sustainability, said on Wednesday at the Carbon Forward Asia event in Singapore.

Banks and investors would be more likely to enter such ...