Project Risk Ratings released as first deliverable from the 40 Bold Actions to Accelerate the Bioecoinomy

At ABLC, a partnership of the Digest, Boundless Impact and Ecostrat released Project Risk Ratings the first deliverable from the 40 Bold Actions to Accelerate the Bioeconomy, as drafted by the Bold Goals Action Group in 2024.

The Action Group, in seeking ways and means to accelerate bioeconomy project development, found that financiers and strategic investors struggle with resources to study and assess bioeconomy projects. The sheer number of projects, the broad geography, the diversity of processing technology and feedstock, the volatility of commodity markets and reliability of carbon incentives are among some of the challenges that require immense helpings of time and experience that investors rarely have at the outset of their engagement with bioeconomy opportunity.

Project Risk Ratings are based on independently-sourced, verified data — seventeen years of historical project data, project specific data relating to financial, technical and carbon performance, industry studies collected by The Digest, proprietary surveys of Digest readers to determine weightings, and data developed by Digest partners Boundless Impact (TEA, LCA) and Ecostrat (Feedstock Risk Ratings). These are brought together into a single assessment of risk based on financial resilience, product diversification, carbon intensity, technology maturity, market volatility and policy uncertainty.

Initial Ratings are based on a blend of project-specific data and industry benchmarks; Precision Ratings are issued for projects that have complete project-specific feedstock risk assessments, lifecycle analyses and supply the other data points needed for calculating the ratings.

Project Risk Ratings are not a substitute for a company’s financial and technical projections or for the thorough due diligence that investors complete before finalizing major investments. Project Risk Ratings fill the gap between the two, providing an early-stage look at risk to provide investors, policymakers, regulators, R&D professionals, analysts, traders, economic development officers, growers, and process developers with a means to prioritize and focus their own due diligence and development efforts.

Project Risk Ratings are available to subscribers for $1895 per year for all updates and new rating issuances that occur in the subscription year.