For those who may have forgotten – Al Gore used to be a politician. In fact, before he became the de facto head whiner for the environmental movement, he was vice-president to Bill Clinton. When Gore left the White House after two terms in office, his personal worth was about $1.5 million dollars.
A little less than a decade later, the man owns a carbon offset company worth $100 million. Dang. That’s some good money. Umm, what is a carbon offset? Good question. It’s a sham, according to Steven Milloy, and a great way to make money in an industry ripe with fraud.
Here’s how the carbon offset game works, in a nutshell. If an individual or, more likely, a company sees that its emissions output will be higher than government standards (or if they just want to look like a goody two-shoes), they can go to a carbon offset company like Gore’s and buy a financial instrument called a carbon offset. This offset is equivalent to a get out of jail free card. It credits them with certain amount of carbon emissions, so lets them go on their merry polluting way with a clearer conscience.
In theory, the money paid to carbon offset companies is funneled as investments into “green” companies for their use in research on cleaner technology. How anyone can prove this is actually done – well, good luck with that.
It seems to us that Gore may be the smartest investor of all.
The Platinum Team
