An environmental company which had agreed to offset Vatican CO2 emissions by planting a forest in Hungary has now closed without implementing its scheme. San Francisco-based Planktos company launched by entrepreneur Russ George and its Hungarian subsidiary KlimaFa had presented a carbon offset certificate to Vatican Cardinal Paul Poupard in July 2007 promising to plant a “Vatican forest” as a carbon offset for the Vatican’s CO2 emissions, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
In the glow of that publicity coup, George offered offsets for sale on his Planktos website. There are no public records of how much he sold. But with the growing outcry over another of its schemes, Planktos abruptly closed in December 2007, CMS says.
KlimaFa - and the Vatican’s still unfulfilled offsets - were left in the hands of a Budapest partner, David Gazdag, who blogged a few times about the project, but planted no trees.
The Hungarian government, once an enthusiastic supporter of the project, now wants no part of the scheme, CSM says.
In the impoverished village of Tiszakeszi, where KlimaFa trees were to be planted, Mayor Kiss Lajos looks forlornly over the empty space along the Tisza River where George had promised to plant “the Vatican Forest” and create hundreds of jobs.
“We felt honored because the Vatican chose our village,” he said. “Now we feel sorry.”
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