In 2017, Douglas Eger founded Intrinsic with the goal of creating "natural asset companies" (NACs). The idea is that a landowner works with investors to create a NAC that licenses the rights to the ecosystem services the land produces. If the company is listed on an exchange, a public offering of shares would provide the landowner with a revenue stream.
Sound impractical? Here's what happened. The Rockefeller Foundation kicked in about $1.7 million to fund the effort. In 2021, Intrinsic announced its plan to list NACs on the New York Stock Exchange. They filed an application with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
Then the American Stewards of Liberty, a Texas group that campaigns against conservation measures, picked up on the plan. Through both grass-roots organizing and high-level lobbying, they argued that NACs were a Trojan horse for foreign governments and “global elites” to lock up large swaths of rural America, prevent mining in parks, etc. The SEC started to get tons of criticism.
A group of 25 Republican attorneys general called it illegal and part of a “radical climate agenda.” On Jan. 11 this year, the Republican chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter demanding a slew of documents relating to the proposal. Less than a week later, the SEC gave up on allowing NACs.
This makes me think the idea actually might have been practical! Otherwise why work so hard to kill it?
The above is paraphrased from a NY Times article. You can read the whole thing for free here:
