Happy New Year! In this first post of the year you will read about a hot
investment topic – carbon credits! I must admit that this kind of investment is difficult
to explain so I believe the best thing for you is to google it on Wikipedia.com
for a short introduction. After reading wikipedia
you would probably realize that this kind of investment is difficult to get a
grip on and there is a lot of information out there, and many different
investment schemes. I chose to go with the English investment broker Emerald
Knight Consultants, who is “specialising in Socially Responsible &
Sustainable Investments”. At the time, Emerald Knight Consultants was
promoting a carbon credit investment from a company called Industry RE (www.industryRE.com) which had the mission “To aid in the creation of a profitable and
sustainable future where our ecosystems, population, businesses and financial
systems work together in harmony”.
Industry
RE defined a carbon credit as a “unit earned by someone who has implemented
a project according to international standards that generates a reduction,
removal, storage or avoidance in greenhouse gas emissions than would otherwise
have occurred (for example a windfarm)”. In this case I bought Voluntary
Emission Reduction Carbon Credits (VERs). According to Wikipedia.com, VERs are
usually created by projects which have been verified outside of the Kyoto
Protocol. One VER is equivalent to 1 tonne of CO2e emissions. Through these
schemes, industries and individuals voluntarily compensate for their emissions
or provide an additional contribution to mitigating climate change. VERs may be
developed and calculated in compliance with one of several VER standards. These
standards set rules defining how emission reductions are measured. Standards
provide assurance for buyers of VERs. At a minimum, all VERs should be verified
by an independent third party.
The
opportunity was to buy VERs over one year and receive 30% ROI. It sounded
great! The account manager at Emerald Knight Consultants said over the phone “the
returns from the last batch is being paid out as we speak”. A “proven”
investment, even better! So I bought for the smallest amount possible as I
didn’t know much about this type of investment and I wanted to be a bit
cautious.
So what happened with this high-return
investment?
After one year of eager waiting I got the
information that the payout of my initial investment and the 30% profit was
delayed. I waited one month…. two months… three months… And I received one
excuse after the other for the delay: Industry RE had moved its headquarters to
Dubai so the bank transfer didn’t work properly, the bank had been overtaken by
another bank so no transfers worked, etc. It was impossible to get a hold of
Industry RE and Emerald Knights Consultants were not helpful either. I felt a
bit like I was David fighting Goliath. J
One day I
happened upon a link on the Internet that referred to a group of over 200
Industry RE investors that were in the same situation as me – delayed returns
with elusive excuses. The idea behind the group was that “many investors are
together stronger than one single investor”, that we could share information
received about the investment, and apply pressure on Industry RE and Emerald
Knights Consultants to deliver according to contract. A while ago all investors
received a letter that many of us had anticipated – Industry RE was bankrupt.
Where the money went is still a mystery, and the CEO seems to have disappeared
into thin air. There are many theories circulating within the group of
investors about what has happened, but one thing is clear: Industry RE is in
liquidation and has been taken over by liquidators. There is basically a snowball’s
chance in hell that I will get some of my invested money back. Thank you
Industry RE, well done. And special thanks to Emerald Knights Consultants for a
high-quality Due Diligence. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh!!!!
Many in the
investors group have also invested in GFI Forestry through Emerald Knight
Consultants, which also is experiencing delayed returns which were expected in
January 2013…. Hopefully we will have more luck chasing this payment.
Here is to hoping that you, valued reader, will have more prosperous
investments during the new year than I had in 2013!
I hope also to post some more profitable (?) investments that I have
conducted recently. So stay tuned and subscribe to my blog if you haven’t
already done so!
Until then, invest safely J
/Chris
We have to be able to understand our business by focusing on the way we can handle our Property Investment Mackay. Be successful by learning how to be a better agent. We can't succeed that easy but we must do our best to try and succeed in our investment.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.positivepropertyinvestments.com.au/properties/property-investment-mackay/
a while back i was contacted by Emerald Knights with regard to some oil wells being drilled in Illinois...what would you suggest i do going forward?
ReplyDeleteHi Curtis, thanks for asking. I have three investments with Emerald Knights. None of them have worked out as planned and I consider them as lost investments.Emerald Knights also contacted me for a oil well investment months ago but I didn't invest which I am very happy about today. I wouldn't invest with Emerald Knights again and I can't recommend anyone to do business with them. Hope this helps.
DeleteBr, Chris
I bought carbon credits, recycled metals, trees, oil. Half a million dollars. I think we're dealing with the Wolf of Wall Street. I'll never retire
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