Gore Buys "Carbon Offsets" From His Own Company
March 1st, 2007
From the the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal:
The Color of Money
BY JAMES TARANTO
Thursday, March 1, 2007 2:40 p.m. EST
Tennessee blogger Bill Hobbs picks up the story of Al Gore’s voracious household energy use, which we noted Tuesday:
The Tennessean reported that Gore buys “carbon offsets” to compensate for his home’s use of energy from carbon-based fuels. As Wikipedia explains, a carbon offset “is a service that tries to reduce the net carbon emissions of individuals or organizations indirectly, through proxies who reduce their emissions and/or increase their absorption of greenhouse gases.” . . .
But how Gore buys his “carbon offsets,” as revealed by The Tennessean raises serious questions. According to the newspaper’s report, Gore buys his carbon offsets through Generation Investment Management:
Gore helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe . . .
Gore is chairman of the firm and, presumably, draws an income or will make money as its investments prosper. In other words, he “buys” his “carbon offsets” from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself. To be blunt, Gore doesn’t buy “carbon offsets” through Generation Investment Management–he buys stocks. . . .
Meanwhile, Gore runs around the country and the world trumpeting “climate crisis” and blaming man’s use of carbon-based energy–burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel as he goes. His efforts have served to put climate change at the top of the national and even global agenda, driving up the value of the stocks and companies viewed as “green” or environmentally friendly. Companies like those his investment management firm invest his own and other peoples’ [sic] money in. (You can see a list of Generation Investment Management’s holdings here, courtesy of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.) …
Why is it left to think tanks and bloggers to investigate and expose all this? Why aren’t the mainstream media all over the story? Could it be . . . bias?
As usual, Mr. Taranto asks good questions.
Why didn’t our watchdog media research this? The company has been around since 2004.
Nobody noticed?
sweetness-light.com
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From Generation Investment Management's 13F:
FORM 13F INFORMATION TABLE
VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER VOTING AUTHORITY
NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE
------------------------------ ---------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- --------
AFLAC INC COM 001055102 13315 290036 SH SOLE 237036 0 53000
AQUANTIVE INC COM 03839G105 4615 187533 SH SOLE 153313 0 34220
AUTODESK INC COM 052769106 12712 314813 SH SOLE 257343 0 57470
BECTON DICKINSON & CO COM 075887109 13785 196951 SH SOLE 161408 0 35543
BLACKBAUD INC COM 09227Q100 4765 183627 SH SOLE 150019 0 33608
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO COM 369604103 19565 526856 SH SOLE 430381 0 96475
GREENHILL & CO INC COM 395259104 9473 128623 SH SOLE 105253 0 23370
JOHNSON CTLS INC COM 478366107 13711 159939 SH SOLE 130989 0 28950
LABORATORY CORP AMER HLDGS COM NEW 50540R409 9935 135500 SH SOLE 110800 0 24700
METABOLIX INC COM 591018809 5209 275000 SH SOLE 275000 0 0
NORTHERN TR CORP COM 665859104 14333 236657 SH SOLE 193447 0 43210
NUVEEN INVTS INC CL A 67090F106 7389 142700 SH SOLE 115400 0 27300
STAPLES INC COM 855030102 11921 447410 SH SOLE 365810 0 81600
SYSCO CORP COM 871829107 11085 302161 SH SOLE 246991 0 55170
TECHNE CORP COM 878377100 22309 403067 SH SOLE 329267 0 73800
UBS AG SHS NEW H89231338 14079 232566 SH SOLE 190186 0 42380
VCA ANTECH INC COM 918194101 4858 151267 SH SOLE 123927 0 27340
WATERS CORP COM 941848103 8875 181600 SH SOLE 148400 0 33200
WHOLE FOODS MKT INC COM 966837106 4427 94522 SH SOLE 77242 0 17280
www.sec.gov |
