Green Scandal: Verra CEO Resigns After Issuance Scandal of Tens of Millions of Bogus “Carbon Offset Certificates”
The chief executive of Verra, the world's largest carbon credit 'Offset', resigned after the Guardian and other newspapers said the company had confirmed tens of millions of dollars in 'Offsets' for the non-existent carbon.
“ I am writing to let you know that, after nearly 15 fantastic years as Verra's CEO, I have decided to resign, ” Verra's CEO David Antonioli wrote in a LinkedIn post last week. He steps down after years of dominating the multibillion-dollar carbon offsetting market and certifying over a billion dollars in credits through its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
Antonioli expressed gratitude to current and former employees and expressed pride in Verra's achievements as a world leader in setting standards for climate action and sustainable development. He did not give a reason for his abrupt departure.
Antonioli's exit comes four months after the Guardian , German weekly Die Zeit and SourceMaterial, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, revealed a damning report on how Verra approved tens of millions of dollars in worthless compensation payments. for Disney, Shell, Gucci and other big companies.
The report revealed that Verra issued "phantom credits" to large companies that do not represent real carbon reductions. Some companies bought these fraudulent credits and labeled their products as "carbon neutral" based on these certificates. At the heart of the scandal are “Offset” decarbonisation practices, in which companies virtually decarbonize their processes by reducing carbon emissions, or increasing their absorption, elsewhere, for example by reforesting an area of the 'Amazon. The problem is verifying these processes.
A few days after the Guardian report was released in January, Antonioli dismissed the findings, calling them "extravagant claims" and vigorously defended Verra's certification of carbon credits. But after all this, Antonioli resigned anyway.
Meanwhile, "some companies are moving away from offset-based environmental claims, such as Gucci, which removed a carbon neutrality claim from its website that relied heavily on Verra's carbon credits, " he said. the Guardian.
Diego Saez Gil, chief executive of Pachama, a carbon offsetting firm, said Verra should update his programs to improve the company's integrity. He told the Guardian:
“ This is a pivotal moment for carbon markets. In order to scale critical funding needed for global carbon sequestration, we must ensure integrity, transparency and real benefits for local communities and biodiversity.” A new generation of innovative players is partnering with regulators, academics, businesses and communities, creating a new era of carbon markets that bodes well for me .”
Despite having previously purchased “worthless” carbon offsets, companies like JPMorgan, Disney and BlackRock continue to engage in ESG. Specifically, JPMorgan has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase carbon-elimination credits.
At the same time, also in Italy, the advertising of products that claim to be "Carbon Neutral", "Carbon Neutral", is rampant, but obviously nobody goes to verify if these decarbonisation operations are actually completed and if this happens with some real utility.
Recall that Elon Musk tweeted a year ago: “ESG is a scam. It has been exploited by false warriors of social justice”.
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The article Green scandal: Verra's CEO resigns after the scandal of the issuance of tens of millions of bogus “Carbon Offset Certificates” comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/scandalo-green-il-ceo-di-verra-si-dimette-dopo-lo-scandalo-dellemissione-di-decine-di-milioni-di-certificati-di-compensazione-di-carbonio-fasulli/ on Thu, 01 Jun 2023 11:37:46 +0000.