After reading about Natural Asset Companies, I have determined that it is a bad idea and that landowners should fight it tooth and nail.

The Securities and Exchange Commission via a request from the New York Stock Exchange has proposed a rule to allow Natural Asset Companies to “hold the right to ecological performance” of public and private lands. These NACs would benefit as natural outputs such as air and water would be monetized.

In an article on the American Stewards of Liberty website the idea for NACs was created by the Intrinsic Exchange Group in partnership with the NYSE. They also point out that “the IEG was founded by the Rockefeller Foundation with supporting partners including international environmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund.”

Well, isn’t that interesting and scary.

From what I understand these NACs would license rights to ecosystem services of private and public lands.

On the Intrinsic Exchange Group website, it says that NACs will be governed, among other rules, by “An equitable benefit sharing policy that requires sharing equity in the NAC and other economic benefits with communities and stakeholders, providing a financial incentive to protect and restore nature as an alternative to extractive activities.”

Extractive activities in my mind include mining and agriculture.  

Many people and groups who have commented on NACs admit that there is not enough information out there to determine exactly how they would work, but there is enough information out there to determine that they would be bad for landowners.

Also, the fact that the comment period was short indicates that the supporters of NACs want this effort to be approved with as little outside influence as possible.

According to an article on the Real Clear Markets website, “On October 4th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a rule to authorize the listing of NACs as self-regulatory organizations on the NYSE. The agency rushed the rule and abruptly closed comments after 21 days on October 25th—a clear violation of the Administrative Procedure Act that requires, at minimum, a 30-day comment period minimum on proposed rulemaking. Recently, the agency admitted fault and extended the rule comment period until January 2nd, 2024.”

That article was published on Nov. 21, 2023, the comment period was recently extended to Jan. 18.

After reading several articles about NACs, I have come to the conclusion that the main investors will be environmentalists and animal rights activist groups.

If you want to read more about NACs and their purpose, got to https://americanstewards.us/sec-poised-to-authorize-natural-asset-companies/ and https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2023/11/21/the_next_esg_frontier_natural_asset_companies_993651.html.

I found a lot of important information on these websites, and these are the ones I’ve quoted in this editorial.

You should also consult the Intrinsic Exchange Group website at https://www.intrinsicexchange.com/ to find out more and see who’s behind this movement.