Classic "Bootleggers and Baptists" *
From AgFunderNews:
BREAKING: Precision ag player reborn as soil carbon market Boomitra; scores $4m from Yara, Chevron
US carbon credits startup Boomitra has raised $4 million funding in a round led by Norwegian fertilizer major Yara International.
Joining Yara Growth Ventures was US petroleum giant Chevron, which participated in the round through its VC arm Chevron Technology Ventures, along with several individual investors including Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, former US Presidential candidate Tom Steyer, and Radicle Impact co-founder and ag impact investor Kat Taylor.
Boomitra founder and CEO Aadith Moorthy told AFN that the funds will mainly be used for investment in tech and talent.
“There is a significant, growing backlog of projects waiting for analysis [and] in order to actually process and certify credits on the scale of millions of acres and many thousands of farmers, we need a much larger software platform and support team built out,” he said.
The San Jose, California-based startup is one of a growing number of players entering the nascent but rapidly developing low-carbon economy.
It’s aiming to remove atmospheric carbon “on a global scale” by tapping into agricultural-use soils and offering farmers an easy, cost-effective route to measuring soil carbon and participating in carbon credits markets....
....MUCH MORE
*Bootleggers and Baptists:
"Here is the essence of the theory: durable social regulation evolves when it is demanded by both of two distinctly different groups. “Baptists” point to the moral high ground and give vital and vocal endorsement of laudable public benefits promised by a desired regulation. Baptists flourish when their moral message forms a visible foundation for political action. “Bootleggers” are much less visible but no less vital. Bootleggers, who expect to profit from the very regulatory restrictions desired by Baptists, grease the political machinery with some of their expected proceeds.
They are simply in it for the money."
—From Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect by Bruce Yandle (the guy who coined the term).
And another really handy phrase when looking at this stuff. Probably half of all climate policy proposals::
Rent Seeking
"Rent seeking occurs when an individual, organization, or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic environment rather than by making a profit through trade and production of wealth."
—From Wikipedia
"Until 1974, the term 'rent seeking' did not exist. This term was invented in 1974 by Anne Kreuger in an excellent paper published in the American Economic Review."
—From "The Fundamentals of Rent Seeking" by Gordon Tullock in "The Locke Luminary" vol.1, no.2
See, for examples of both phrases, Enron Corporation:
Tough duty but someone had to do it.
But before Bali there was Kyoto, which Enron pushed with all their—then considerable—might.
When the Protocol was agreed in 1997, Enron's top lobbyist, John Palmisano, senior director for environmental policy and compliance emailed from Kyoto:
If implemented [the Kyoto Protocol] will do more to promote Enron’s business than will almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring of the [electricity] and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States…. The endorsement of emissions trading was another victory for us…. This agreement will be good for Enron stock!!It was time to turn deeds into dollars, he added:
Enron now has excellent credentials with many ‘green’ interests including Greenpeace, WWF [World Wildlife Fund], NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council], GermanWatch, The US Climate Action Network, the European Climate Action Network, Ozone Action, WRI [World Resources Institute], and Worldwatch [Institute],” reported Palmisano. “This position should be increasingly cultivated and capitalized on (monetized).....