Carbon Conservation

Carbon Conservation "our mission is to maximise the contribution of land and vegetation-based carbon storage to reducing and absorbing greenhouse gas emissions, while being guided by the principles of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

"Since its formation in 2001, The Carbon Pool group of companies has built their business around these key principles, working with our key stakeholders from a platform of innovation, leadership and collaboration."

In 2009 Michael Barker wrote that: "In 1990, Hylton Philipson formed Wingate Ventures, which according to his online biography provides "corporate finance services to businesses making a positive contribution to the environment, including Carbon Conservation and Canopy Capital." Formed in 2001, the latter group, Carbon Conservation, is particularly controversial despite having a fairly innocuous neoliberal-styled mission statement to: "maximise the contribution of land and vegetation-based carbon storage to reducing and absorbing greenhouse gas emissions, while being guided by the principles of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development." Indeed, just last December it was reported that a deal "brokered by Australia-based Carbon Conservation between Merrill Lynch, Flora and Fauna International, the provincial government of Aceh and others, [that] could generate up to $432 million in gross carbon financing over the next 30 years by preventing logging and conversion of Ulu Masen forest in Aceh province for oil palm plantations." This news is particularly noteworthy because Carbon Conservation's "Strategic Investor" is Phillip Scanlan, an individual who formerly served as the inaugural chairman of the neoliberal think tank, the Sydney Institute (1989-93), and prior to that had been associated with the secretive neoliberal Crossroads group."

Deals
"Last December, the entity formerly known as Merrill Lynch became the first major US bank to invest in an avoided deforestation project, putting $9 million towards rainforest conservation in Sumatra. The bank hoped to lock up forestry carbon credits while they were cheap and sell them at a higher price in either voluntary markets or should they emerge, compliance markets.

"The deal, brokered by Australia-based Carbon Conservation between Merrill Lynch, Flora and Fauna International, the provincial government of Aceh and others, could generate up to $432 million in gross carbon financing over the next 30 years by preventing logging and conversion of Ulu Masen forest in Aceh province for oil palm plantations. Benefits from the deal are expected to extend well beyond the bank – Aceh Governor Irwandi Jusuf sees the initiative as a key step in the region's recovery from the devastating 2004 tsunami and three decades of civil war.

"To support the project, Irwandi has imposed a moratorium on logging, hired more than 1,000 former fighters as rangers, and laid out plans for the development of "forest compatible environmentally sustainable business, such as improved post harvest technologies, community-services for the nature tourism industry, forest tree and fruit tree nurseries," according to the Project Design Note. Management and administration will be conducted largely at a local level through traditional community leaders.

"Since the unveiling of the Aceh deal, investor-led REDD projects have mushroomed around the world. Many of these operate as partnerships between local communities, governments, development agencies, NGOs, and carbon investors. The World Bank is helping jumpstart projects in more than two dozen countries with its $300-million Forest Carbon Partnership Facility which builds capacity for countries to earn compensation through REDD."

People
Accessed April 2009:


 * Dorjee Sun is CEO of Carbon Conservation
 * John Saunders - Chair
 * Phil Scanlan - Strategic Investor
 * Derek Trau - Vice President

Contact

 * Web: http://www.carbonconservation.com

Critical Articles

 * Susan Austin, "Can carbon trading save our forests?", Green Left Weekly, July 4, 2009. (Critical review of their film The Burning Season - released July 2009)

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Hylton M. Philipson