How to make money from the climate crisis !?!

Hold your breath, and literally profit from it: ?????? ???? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????????? ???????????? ???? ?????? ???????? ??.?? ?????????????? ?????? ???? ?????????? & why (American) capitalism is not able to solve the climate or the biodiversity crisis unless it changes fundamentally?

Dive into this eye-opening tale of US investors and TotalEnergies, the French oil and gas giant, ?coming up with a ‘solution’ ?to address the climate crisis. You will have another lesson on how to make money from holding your breath, being complacent & greenwash on a gargantuan scale.

US investors ( T. Rowe Price Group , Oak Hill Advisors, L.P. & Aurora Sustainable Lands) spent about $1.8 billion buying up forested land (1.7 million hectares) ?with ageing forests. ?They have combined ?forces with #TotalEnergies, the French oil giant spending an additional 100 million USD.

Total Energies will ?claim that the delayed ?harvesting in 300 000 hectares of forests will offset Total Energies’ ?Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The project is officially described as Improved Forest Management including “ the preservation of natural carbon sinks by reducing timber harvesting, as well as water and soil quality improvement, biodiversity protection and natural habitat conservation”.

In a nutshell: we have speculative investors – buying agricultural & forested land in the US usually is not a loss generating bad bet ?- who promise to ?improve forest management hence the atmosphere and even nature will benefit so they can pat themselves on the shoulder. Note that 90% of forest harvest comes from private forests. in the US, constituting ?60% of forested land. Forestry practices are of course regulated, but as ‘property is sacred’, forest owners have the upper hand on ?how they manage their forests so ‘doing better than legally required’?is not too hard at all, though extreme weather events ( droughts) leading to forest fires complicate the situation ( btw, ?providing another good reason for regulators to step in!).

Another major flaw in the deal: the geological, oil&gas emissions of TotalEnergies and the offsets' natural carbon cycle, which is inherently non-permanent and hence violating the like-for-like. common sense matching principle of Oxford Offsetting Principles and recommendations of many others to ensure that fossil emissions are never offset by non-permanent reductions & removals.

The buyer, the initiator of these improvements is Total ?Energies is best characterized by:

1, “The investment strategy of TotalEnergies prioritizes the oil and gas sector and redistribution to shareholders, to the detriment of climate solutions.

2, The energy strategy of TotalEnergies will continue to rely on the development of new fossil fuel projects.

3, TotalEnergies’ diversification strategy remains marginal and partly relies on gas and unsustainable energies’ according to Reclaim Finance - ONG analysis.

So when the US investors and Total Energies agree on a voluntary ?carbon market deal we have the perfect ?‘incumbent couple’: ?profit seeking investors and an oil&gas incumbent committed to be the ‘last man standing’ in its own sector. Some carbon market pioneers, including ?Anew Climate ( a merger of Element Markets, and Bluesource) part of the dealmaking team, argue “that an ‘all of the above’ strategy is required to achieve meaningful climate impact” (Angela Schwarz, Anew Climate CEO).

Nicola Steen, another seasoned carbon market pioneer observed regarding the?deal: ?“The biggest ever US carbon transaction. ?Guess what, someone will say it's not perfect. It won't be. We aren't talking pure maths or another absolute science where we have certainty. We have people and companies trying to address pressing issues, with our failings and imperfections, but also with diligence, application, experience, drive and commitment. “

In my opinion, this ?deal clearly demonstrates ?how and why the incumbents – from fossil companies to forests owners – will NEVER initiate ?and implement the necessary scale and speed of transformative change unless the PUBLIC and/or REGULATORS force them to do so.

Let’s face it: there are occasions when the better is simply not good enough! ?

Happy to hear investors, VCM stakeholders and foresters’ ?arguments that there are no more impactful and systemic-change triggering actions if you happen to have a combined 1.9 ?billion dollars at your hands….?

#sustainability #climatechange #VCM #carboncredits #netzero #governance #ESG #yourclimatetoolbox #oilandgas