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Hildon Green Energy Markets: Another carbon credit boiler room scam bites the dust

Chris Lang — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:45:34 +0000

On 16 May 2013, the Insolvency Service announced that Hildon Green Energy Markets Ltd had been wound up after an Insolvency Service investigation. The Insolvency Service reports that the company “marketed near worthless carbon credits to the public for investment”, by “promising vastly exaggerated returns”. This case is important, not only because it is another [...] [...]

Why doesn’t VCS warn against buying carbon credits as an investment?

Chris Lang — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:38:16 +0000

There are many reasons not to buy voluntary carbon credits as an investment. The price is likely to fall over time. There is no secondary market. And you’re more than likely to be ripped off when you buy carbon credits. The sums of money involved are large. Recently, two people in the UK were jailed [...] [...]

REDD in the news: 13-19 May 2013

REDD-Monitor — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:00:04 +0000

A round up of the week’s news on REDD, in chronological order with short extracts (click on the title for the full article). REDD-Monitor’s news page is updated regularly. For past REDD in the news posts, click here. The German Fast-Start Finance Contribution World Resources Institute, May 2013 | Germany’s fast-start finance (FSF) contribution reflects [...] [...]

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court returns customary forests to indigenous peoples

Chris Lang — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:18:06 +0000

Yesterday, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that indigenous peoples’ customary forests should not be classed as “State Forest Areas”. This is a landmark ruling and an important step for the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in Indonesia. In March 2012, Indonesia’s national indigenous peoples’ organisation, AMAN (Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara), filed a petition to the Court. [...] [...]

Unanswered questions about Bai Shan Lin’s big plans for Guyana

Chris Lang — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:34:21 +0000

Bai Shan Lin, a Chinese logging company, has big plans for Guyana: forest concessions covering 960,000 hectares; a 20-kilometre river gold mining concession; a 500-hectare Guyana-China Timber Industry Economic and Trading Cooperation Park and a 160-hectare real estate development. Despite the scale of the planned operations, Bai Shan Lin’s agreements with the government of Guyana [...] [...]

MH Carbon in liquidation: What to do if you bought carbon credits from MH Carbon

Chris Lang — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:39:14 +0000

MH Carbon was established in September 2010 and went into voluntary liquidation in May 2013. During this period, the company sold carbon credits to more than 5,000 people, at a total cost of £18.7 million. The people who bought these voluntary carbon credits found that they are extremely difficult to sell. And 5,000 people now [...] [...]

Indonesia’s President extends forest moratorium for two more years

Chris Lang — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:52:33 +0000

Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has extended the moratorium on new forest concessions for a further two years. Despite the flaws in the moratorium an extension is better than a return to business as usual. But the President has missed out on a chance to strengthen the moratorium. The two-year moratorium was set up under [...] [...]

Can REDD stop the land grabbing crisis in Laos and Cambodia?

Chris Lang — Wed, 15 May 2013 06:47:40 +0000

This week, Global Witness released a new report investigating a land grabbing crisis in Laos and Cambodia. The report looks at two Vietnamese “rubber baron” companies, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG). Global Witness found that these companies “have leased vast tracts of land for plantations in Laos and Cambodia, [...] [...]

Memo to WWF: Destroying rainforests and peatland for palm oil is not “sustainable”

Chris Lang — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:51:00 +0000

WWF loves “sustainability”. With “sustainability”, there’s no need to address over-consumption, or the never-ending growth of capitalist expansion. Consumption can increase, as long as it’s “sustainable”. Palm oil plantations destroying vast areas of rainforest? No problem. Here comes “sustainable” palm oil. In 2001, WWF started discussions with palm oil companies and industry bodies. Three years [...] [...]

Tell Indonesia’s President Yudhoyono to stop Aceh’s “plan to kill orangutans”

Chris Lang — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:54:22 +0000

Avaaz has launched a petition to stop Aceh’s proposed spatial plan, which would involve the conversion of 1.2 million hectares of forest, “into plantation and mining areas and other purposes”. When I started writing this post, more than 460,000 people had signed the petition. A couple of hours later and the figure has reached 522,879. [...] [...]