Hijacking corporate finance to advance political agendas has taken a new and alarming turn. After the briefest of comment periods, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering a far-reaching rule change that will dramatically alter the ownership and use of public and private land in the United States.
Had the SEC allowed more than just a perfunctory comment period, the agency may have learned about the serious national security, food security, and inflation implications of this reckless policy. But they didn’t do that. Future generations stand to pay a heavy economic price.
The rule would allow the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to list Natural Asset Companies (NACs) as a new type of company for public investment. NACs exist to buy the ecosystem rights to private, federal, and state lands, and to permanently lock them away from productive economic activity. A NAC’s purpose isn’t profit but rather, “ecological services.”
Forests, farmland, parks, and land rich in resources are the intended targets for NACs. These new companies would use investor funds to acquire the controlling rights to any enrolled lands, and then forever prevent resource extraction, farming, and other critical economic activity. In other words, this rule would empower activists to undermine the market’s ability to allocate capital and resources for the benefit of local communities, and for society as a whole.
The NAC mission to reduce human impact on as much land as possible comes at a significant societal and economic cost. NACs are intended to attract not just impact investors seeking to influence social behavior, but also adversarial countries like China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia that can use their massive sovereign wealth funds to take American lands out of useful production. What better way to squeeze America than permanently locking up natural resources without a fight?
If the rule stands, productive farmland could disappear rapidly. Energy self-sufficiency will soon be lost forever. One of America’s greatest assets, her natural resources, would be diminished due to climate catastrophizing, complicit politicians, and Wall Street promoters.
For example, the global food sector accounts for 25-35% of global emissions. Climate activists are demanding an 85% reduction in land-based agricultural emissions by 2050. This means cutting red meat consumption by at least 50%. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum convinced Sri Lanka to eliminate synthetic fertilizers in 2021 because they emit nitrous oxide. Predictably, rice production has fallen 40-50% while prices have skyrocketed 80%. The country went from being a self-sufficient food exporter to an economic catastrophe.
Our largest banks have signed onto this agenda by agreeing to “net zero” emissions targets. The proposed SEC rule would add the financial power of Wall Street to this misguided campaign. Rural America and our critical agricultural sector will need to stand up to the SEC’s commandeering of financial markets for non-financial reasons.
Shame on the NYSE for pushing this idea. Shame on the SEC for providing an inappropriately brief 21-day comment period for such a drastic rule. And shame on us if we don’t reject NACs as a dangerous and fraudulent contrivance that will cripple the security and prosperity of our country.
