Carbon offsets: Using the green cloak of 'certification' to sell

It's not the only conflicting information the company offers. A salesman this month asserted that more than 350 hectares have been planted with tens of thousands of trees. But the company only owns 200 hectares so far, says Martin Rivera, who acquires real estate for Silva Tree. And a Monitor visit to the site in February found just 10 hectares had been planted, with 8,000 seedlings, since the October project launch. Herminio Rodriguez, forestry management contractor for Silva Tree, said 1,200 seedlings died – possibly because they were planted in the dry season, not considered the time to cultivate in Panama.

Company officials also contradict one another about the way carbon offsets figure in the project. The brochure and salesmen market it as a carbon offset project, but leave vague who actually receives the carbon credits and profit for sales of the credits.

"In Panama, it is a double benefit: timber and carbon credits.... There's double income, on his/her plot," says Maurice Sjerps, Silva Tree manager in Latin America.

But Ms. Katz says that investors don't receive carbon credits; they would receive profits from the sale of the timber. Credits wouldn't be sold until VCS certification is achieved, she says, adding that the company would use the profits to improve the community near the project.

Some environmentalists criticize timber investment projects that offer carbon offsets because trees sequestering carbon are eventually cut. But Mr. Antonioli says that such projects can be valid, and one is already in the VCS database. "It may seem counterintuitive, but it could work. You can plant trees where no trees were there before."

That's what Silva Tree says it's doing – growing trees on fields of degraded farmland.

But questions and contradictions might not be apparent to any but the savviest investors if consumers believe the company's claims that it is VCS certified, a cloak of legitimacy.

And, say some environmentalists, this is one of the main problems in the voluntary market. "There is no monitoring; they are monitoring themselves," says Ricardo Carrere, the head of the Uruguay-based World Rainforest Movement.

1. GLOBAL INVESTIGATION: Buying carbon offsets may ease eco-guilt but not global warming

2. How the "Vatican Forest" was felled before it grew

3. An offset gone wrong: Green windmills aggrieve Indian farmers

4. Using the green cloak of "certification" to market a plantation in Panama

5. Is Dave Matthews' carbon offsets provider really carbon neutral?

6. Australia leads the pursuit of carbon offset scams

[Editor's note: The summary on this story was changed slightly for greater clarity and accuracy.]

Previous

1 | 2