First Climate

First Climate

First Climate was founded in Bad Vilbel, Germany, in 1999 by carbon market architects Sascha Lafeld and Urs Brodmann, who remain on the board. The firm emerged during the design phase of the Kyoto Protocol's flexibility mechanisms and was among the first private actors to build origination, trading, and advisory capacity around project-based emission reduction credits. In 2022, HANNOVER Finanz Group, a German mid-market private equity firm, acquired a majority stake, providing institutional backing while the founders retained board-level governance. First Climate operates across the full carbon value chain. Its trading desk transacts in compliance and voluntary carbon credits, while its advisory arm structures greenhouse gas abatement projects for corporates and governments. The firm covers renewable energy, methane capture, forestry, and clean cookstove methodologies, with historic sourcing across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Through its participation in the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and Urs Brodmann's role on the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), First Climate has been embedded in the market infrastructure conversations that shape credit standards and exchange frameworks. HANNOVER Finanz's ownership connects First Climate to a private equity group with over €300 million in assets under management and a track record of mid-cap industrial holdings, though the carbon firm's own balance sheet and fee-based revenue remain undisclosed. The management team is led by CEO Olaf Bachert, who joined the founders in shaping the firm's corporate strategy after the Paris Agreement reshuffled carbon pricing architectures. The firm operates from its suburban Frankfurt headquarters, with no publicly confirmed additional offices. Professional headcount is not disclosed. In May 2022, HANNOVER Finanz announced its acquisition, describing First Climate as a "leading service provider for carbon offset management" — a transaction that, per public record, positioned the firm for scaled corporate engagement as Article 6 implementation accelerated. First Climate's structural profile is unusual: it is a portfolio company of an industrial private equity group, not a standalone partnership or a bank subsidiary. That ownership structure links its carbon market activities to HANNOVER Finanz's extended network of portfolio companies, creating a potential pipeline for corporate offset mandates. The founders' ongoing presence maintains institutional memory dating to the UNFCCC's original market-based mechanisms — a depth of operating history that younger carbon startups lack.