They held Live Aid the other day, and literally hundreds of would-be greens watched B-list rock stars who jetted in from around the globe to endorse Al Gore’s vision:
“This is going to be the greenest event of its kind, ever,” former Vice President and Live Earth partner Al Gore told The Associated Press. “The carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come.”
I.e., this could be the event that kills fashionable green politics. BTW, about those carbon offsets- they were purchased from Native Energy, a Native American (extra cultural points!) owned operation that… well, it’s unclear exactly what they do. They say they fund renewable energy projects, but that phrase covers a lot of ground. Their web site says:
…NativeEnergy is majority-owned by the non-profit Intertribal Council On Utility Policy, although we are organized and operate as a for-profit company….
…and perhaps someone could explain that to me. In their FAQ, they ask the question, “How much goes to the projects?” and they reply:
Our business model is really very simple: We make otherwise insufficiently profitable renewable energy projects profitable enough to get financed and built. We do it buying their long-term renewable energy credits (RECs) and/or CO2 offsets up front, and selling shares of those RECs and offsets up front, thus buying down their initial investment costs and increasing their investment return. So a partial answer to “how much goes to the projects” is “enough to get them financed and built.”
…which again I find a little confusing. I am also more than a little reminded of Milo Minderbinder, the character in Catch 22 who somehow sets up a huge for-profit organization inn the middle of a war zone, and whose sole justification seems to be “everyone gets a share!”, even as he contracts with the Germans to bomb his own base.
Back to NativeEnergy’s financial model:
When you offset with NativeEnergy, you are purchasing property (RECs and other CO2 offsets are property) and you are donating that property to Clean Air-Cool Planet for it to further its charitable purpose of reducing global warming by retiring the credits or offsets. Think of it like you are buying soup from a grocer (NativeEnergy) and donating it to the local food drive (CA-CP) for it to give to hungry people. The general rule under the Internal Revenue Code is that when you donate property to a qualified charitable organization (CA-CP is a qualified 501(c)(3)), you are entitled to deduct the fair market value of that property from your income…
So basically you’re donating money to this organization, who in turn invest some undisclosed fraction of it in for-profit alternative energy projects that otherwise wouldn’t be financially viable. In the business world this is called throwing money away. But in this case, the principles of NativeEnergy get their cut, and the donors, like their predecessors in the Middle Ages, are buying indulgences to pave their way to Green Heaven, even as they continue to drive SUVs, air condition their multiple homes, and charter private jets.
And everyone gets a share!