Environmental Resources Trust

According to a web bulletin board entry in November 2000 posted by Environmental Sociologist Michael R. Meuser, Meuser had "found a report, Crony Environmentalism (http://users.erols.com/npap/crony.html)" [now a dead link] and followed the links in the article to arrive at the currently functional Environmental Resources Trust, Inc. (ERT) website.

"Since then," wrote Meuser, "ERTs original website, www.ert.org, has been replaced by http://www.ert.net/."

The Environmental Defense Fund (ED) "provides a description of ERT on their website at: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/links/ERT/ [also now a dead link]. The original website identified 3 of the 7 ERT directors as coming from EDF. The chairman was identified as C. Boyden Gray, (... another dead link). C. Boyden Gray is a lobbyist and was White House Counsel to George Herbert Walker Bush. The new website identifies most of the same directors, but does not state who their chairman is so it is not clear if C. Boyden Gray is still a player.

"Both ED and ERT say that ERT was founded with the help of ED. The new ERT website (http://www.ert.net/aboutus.html ... also a dead end) indicates that ED accounts for 3 of the 7 directors of ERT.

"The current directors and their affiliations include:

• Environmental Defense Fund 3
• National Fish & Wildlife Foundation 1
• National Audubon Society 1
• German Marshall Fund 1
• ERT 1

"ERT has several programs. Here are a few excerpts.

• (http://www.ecoair.net/ [non-functional web link]): ERT is currently working to develop emission allowance trading systems for greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and ground level ozone formation.
• (http://www.ecolands.net/ [links to ERT web site]): Carbon sequestration to offset greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide.
• (http://www.ert.net/ghg.html (Greenhouse Gas Registry) [functional link]): Emissions trading is a powerful tool for reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) that integrates businesses' environmental obligations and their economic aspirations.

"ERT has begun to work with major companies in key GHG-intensive industry sectors, and entities and projects that produce emission reductions and sinks. This last is particularly interesting since ERT has already geared up to do emissions trading and carbon sequestering accounting while most of the rest of the world sees this as a self-serving irresponsible sham and is fighting against it."

Meuser continues to collect "information about these issues at http://www.mapcruzin.com/globalchange21/ (originally collected at http://www.mapcruzin.com/climate_change_2000/index.html which will now redirect you to the new link).

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According to the current Environmental Resources Trust, Inc. web site, ERT "is a Washington, DC-based, non-profit organization that pioneers the use of market forces to protect and improve the global environment. Founded in 1996, with the assistance of the Environmental Defense Fund, ERT is harnessing the power of markets to address the challenges of tempering climate change, securing clean and reliable power, and encouraging environmentally beneficial land use.

"ERT has developed three focused programs to accomplish its mission. ERT's GHG RegistrySM records validated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions profiles with the aim of creating a market that will enable efficient emissions reductions. The EcoPowerSM Program catalyzes the market for clean energy by substantiating and marketing blocks of power that include new renewable sources of energy and have significantly reduced environmental impacts. ERT's EcoLandsSM Program facilitates deals that enable and encourage landowners to make environmentally beneficial land use decisions.

"ERT's funding is derived both from philanthropic contributions and fee-for-service revenues. ERT is not an advocacy organization, and has no political affiliation. ERT implements economic ideas that address today's environmental challenges, using the organization's non-profit status to take risks, produce results, and publicize successes."

ERT Board

• Andrew McElwaine, President; Pennsylvania Environmental Council
• Craig Kennedy, Vice President; The German Marshall Fund
• Joseph Goffman, Treasurer and Secretary; Environmental Defense
• Daniel J. Dudek; Environmental Defense
• Thomas P. Grumbly; The Keystone Center
• W. R. Zach Willey; Environmental Defense

Staff

• Wiley Barbour, Director of Registry and Verification Services, ERT
• Alden Hathaway, Director of the Clean Power Program, ERT
• Gordon Smith, Ph.D., Director of the EcoLandsSM Program, ERT
• Alexia Kelley, Director of Program Development, ERT

Contact

ERT
1612 K Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202.785.8577
URL: www.ert.net