Nordic nature finance

Nature needs restoring.We know where to start.

From a Nordic base, we connect international thinking with local opportunities.

Founders’ records, in numbers

  • 75

    combined years in energy, carbon and green finance

  • 500+

    organisations served globally

  • 106

    sustainable finance frameworks reviewed

  • 94.6

    EUR billion issued under them

Done on paper, missing in practice

  • Governments have set targets to restore nature. The tools to deliver them are missing.
  • Companies disclose their nature risks and set targets. Few know what to do next.
  • Investors want nature assets. Projects are too small to buy.
  • Insurers already see nature loss in their claims. Their products do not cover it yet.

Policymakers

Policy and frameworks for balancing built land with restored land, and for deciding who pays.

Businesses

Help shaping projects that meet nature targets or make up for land taken.

Investors and insurers

Evidence from pilots that nature outcomes arrive, and help pooling projects to a size worth financing and insuring.

Where we help build the market

  • 01

    Shaping frameworks

  • 02

    Projects worth funding

  • 03

    Connecting finance

  • 04

    Building partnerships

Work with us through grants, consortia, studies or co-funded pilots, connecting international thinking with local opportunities.

See the work in full

Nordic nature finance

Nature needs a market.We help build it.

We work with businesses, investors and policymakers to turn nature ambitions into practical action.

How we support the market

01

Shaping frameworks

Frameworks that turn ambition into practical action.

Governments, municipalities and agencies get answers on how to balance built land with restored land, and whether a fee or a market fits. International methods are adapted for Nordic use rather than reinvented.

Area neutrality · Natural capital accounting · Fees and markets · Methods · Standards

02

Projects worth funding

Nature targets turned into projects.

State-owned and private companies with nature targets, or land to compensate for, get help shaping projects that meet them. Claims are built to the draft standards.

Restoration · Compensation · Biodiversity credits · Claims · Supply chains

03

Connecting finance

Nature priorities connected with funding.

Investors and insurers get help pooling nature projects into portfolios large enough to finance and insure. Developers get help finding capital for the three to seven years before a project delivers.

Pooling · Upfront capital · Delivery risk · Insurance · Blended finance

04

Building partnerships

Finance, business, policy and conservation at one table.

Restoration developers sell the carbon, and their buyers get the nature free. Pilots change that. They bring developers, issuers and buyers together to sell biodiversity credits beside carbon credits. We are preparing a first pilot on a restoration project.

Restoration · Biodiversity credits · Verification · Landowners · Buyers

Four ways to work with us

  • Grants and consortia

    Grant applicants and consortia get a partner who knows the international rules and the Nordic market.

  • Commissioned studies

    Companies and public bodies commission studies. They range from what a nature target means in practice to which policy tool fits.

  • Co-funded pilots

    Investors and insurers co-fund pilots and see whether the nature outcome arrives before anyone has to price it.

  • Project partnerships

    Developers and landowners join pilots as partners rather than payers. They bring the land and the project.

Earlier work

Carbon credit client book carried into Seevard, 2026

In January 2026 Kjetil Selmer-Olsen and Per Otto Larsen moved to Seevard, which took over CEMAsys’s carbon credit clients and contracts. It works in carbon removal and blue carbon.

Nord Pool, first to trade EU allowances, 2005

Per Otto Larsen managed business development at Nord Pool from 2000 to 2007, the years it became the first exchange to trade EU emission allowances.

UN credits cancelled for Nordic companies, from 2007

At CO2focus, Kjetil Selmer-Olsen led sales and Per Otto Larsen led operations. The company measured clients’ emissions, then bought and cancelled UN-certified credits for them, so none could be resold.

Forestry and biodiversity on 740,000 hectares

In 2023, Bjarni Herrera worked on green finance for Tornator’s forests in Finland, Estonia and Romania. Tornator has since raised EUR 350 million.

Green bonds opened to biodiversity and oceans

In 2022, Bjarni Herrera worked on the International Finance Corporation’s green bond framework as it first added biodiversity, ocean and water. USD 4.35 billion has been raised under it.

Nordic nature finance

Nature needs finance.We make it work.

Nordic experience and an international perspective, with an advisory board forming now.

The team doing the work

  • Kjetil Selmer-Olsen

    Co-founder and Board Member

    Co-founded CO2focus, later CEMAsys, in 2007 and led its sales and marketing as Nordic companies began buying UN-certified credits for their emissions. At Seevard since January 2026, working in carbon removal and blue carbon.

    CO2focus · CEMAsys · Seevard

  • Per Otto Larsen

    Co-founder and CEO

    Spent fourteen years in oil, gas and power markets before carbon, at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Saga Petroleum and Nord Pool. Co-founded CO2focus, later CEMAsys, in 2007 and led its product development and operations. Certified European financial analyst. Trained as a cavalry officer.

    Saga Petroleum · Nord Pool · CO2focus · CEMAsys · Seevard

  • Bjarni Herrera

    Co-founder and Chairman

    First head of sustainability at KPMG Iceland, then chief operating officer of CICERO Shades of Green through its 2022 sale to S&P Global. Co-founded the Nordic Circular Hotspot, a pan-Nordic platform funded by Nordic Innovation from 2019 to 2024. Certified in climate risk. Runner and skier.

    Accrona · KPMG · CICERO Shades of Green · S&P Global · Nordic Circular Hotspot

  • Karen Torres Sánchez

    Research Analyst

    Environmental engineering, sustainability research and data analysis. Worked at Bosch and TU Dresden on environmental systems. BE in Environmental Engineering. Colombian; speaks Spanish, English and German.

    Accrona · Bosch · TU Dresden

    LinkedIn

Advisory board, forming now

  • Members from the Nordics and beyond

    They are drawn from the founders’ networks and named here as they accept.

  • Advice, with no formal authority

    Members challenge the founders’ thinking before decisions are made. Every decision stays with the board.

Our purpose and values

Vision

An economy where finance protects and restores nature.

Mission

We help build the markets, partnerships and frameworks that move investment into protecting and restoring nature, from a Nordic base.

Trust

Your name stays out of anything we publish until you agree to it in writing.

Excellence

A second founder checks every figure and claim before you see it.

Growth

Buyers who manage real risk come before goodwill money. Their demand lasts.

Focus

We take on nature finance and nothing else, whatever the fee.