From FOAK to Financeable: Standardizing Readiness Signals for Climate Demonstration Projects
First-of-a-kind (FOAK) climate demonstration projects—including carbon management, industrial decarbonization, hydrogen, geothermal, and advanced buildings—face persistent barriers to financing. While technical promise and public interest are strong, insurers and investors lack decision-ready, privacy-safe data that translates deployment experience into underwriting criteria. As a result, risks that may be manageable in practice remain poorly parameterized on paper, delaying or preventing investment.
The goal of this project is to deliver a focused, practical proof-of-concept that defines and tests standardized “readiness signals” for climate demonstrations that are meaningful to insurers, lenders, and public funders. This project will produce standardized readiness signals and data templates that reduce uncertainty for financiers and insurers evaluating demonstration-scale technologies and provides a risk assessment framework to companies willing to deploy FOAK climate demonstration projects. By bridging DOE-informed deployment knowledge with insurance and finance needs, the project aims to accelerate capital formation while safeguarding public and private investment.
Jennifer Wilcox
Presidential Distinguished ProfessorJen Wilcox is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy. She previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy.
