By Chris Lang A new report by the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment makes the claim that, “forest-related Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) could generate US$800 billion in annual revenues by 2050, worth US$1.2 trillion today in NPV [net present value] terms, surpassing the current market capitalisation of the oil & gas majors”.
Tag: Natural Climate Solutions

Interview with Larry Lohmann, The Corner House: “Carbon markets do not need to be ‘fixed’. They need to be eliminated”
We have more than 20 years of evidence that carbon markets have failed to address the climate crisis. Yet carbon trading is booming. The oil industry plans to use natural climate solutions to greenwash its operations, and the aviation industry plans to use carbon offsets to allow its emissions to continue increasing.

Ten pitfalls of massive tree planting campaigns like the World Economic Forum’s trillion trees initiative
By Chris Lang “Scientists, corporations, mystics, and movie stars have convinced policymakers around the world that a massive campaign to plant trees should be an essential element of global climate policy. Public dialogue has emphasized potential benefits of tree planting while downplaying pitfalls and limitations that are well established by social and ecological research.”

Banking on Nature: HSBC partners with Pollination for US$6 billion “natural capital” investment
By Chris Lang HSBC Global Asset Management and Pollination Group have announced a series of planned billion-dollar funds targetting “natural capital”. The new venture will be called HSBC Pollination Climate Asset Management and aims to raise US$6 billion from institutional investors. But handing over conservation to bankers and neoliberal economists will be a disaster for…

Do the four principles on Nature-Based Solutions mean “No offsets”?
By Chris Lang In May 2020, 60 organisations and experts signed on to a statement calling for Four Principles for Nature-Based Solutions. The first signatory is Christiana Figueres, Co-founder, Global Optimisim and the second is Thomas Crowther, Crowther Lab, ETH Zurich. Among the other signatories are representatives from The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, WRI, IUCN,…