Big Green: The Washington Post's Exposé of The Nature Conservancy

Corporate support, continued

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TNC Board of Directors and International Leadership Council stacked with corporate representation

The Nature Conservancy's volunteer Board of Directors includes past and present members from corporations including:

• General Motors (GM contributed $10 million to a TNC initiative that supports supplying corporations with pollution credits , a system whereby industries that exceed their allowable pollution emissions can buy emission credits from industries that stay below their allowable pollution emissions, or from groups that have "extra" credits earned through environmental work to reduce pollution emissions. For example, by paying into a plan that protects forests in South America [forests act as "sinks" or absorbers of greenhouse gases], a company can earn pollution credits, even though it has done nothing to improve pollution emissions from its own factories.)
• Georgia-Pacific Corp.
• Southern Co. (a leading U.S. power producer)
• American Electric (The 2003 Post series said American Electric was fighting an Environmental Protection Agency lawsuit alleging Clean Air Act violations. It also noted the company joined a TNC forest preservation venture that could supply it with pollution credits.)

TNC,s International Leadership Council is comprised of corporate representatives who work with TNC to "seek solutions to conservation challenges through cooperative partnerships," says the TNC website. Corporations pay $25,000 and up for a seat on the council.

According to TNC literature: "ILC members contribute greatly to the development of the plans, tools and resources The Nature Conservancy needs to accomplish its ambitious mission of preserving the diversity of life on Earth."

Current (2005) International Leadership Council members include:

• Lockheed Martin (Manufacturer of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Laser Guided Bomb Kit and the Hellfire II Modular Missile System. The company boasts it is "supporting the warfighter by providing a wide variety of highly effective and reliable weapons systems to ensure that the right weapon is available for each situation that they may face.")
• BP
• Cargill
• Pfizer
• Dow Chemical Co. (In 2002, the Louisiana chapter of TNC gave Dow an environmental award for expanding a greenbelt bird sanctuary around one of its plants. The Post reports that Dow recently confirmed this same plant was being looked at by a grand jury investigating vinyl chloride contamination of water.)
• Coca-Cola Co.
• Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (the company that paid the largest liability settlement in U.S. history; $333 million in damages to residents of Southern California after its company contaminated groundwater. The legal battle is portrayed in the movie "Erin Brockovitch.")

Greenwashing: Big Business and Big Green make strange bedfellows

The Post series outlines instances in which corporate sponsors use the Conservancy,s label on everything from breakfast cereal to ads for toilet bowl cleaner. The Post cites TNC literature that says: "A partnership with The Nature Conservancy is good business!" The literature goes on to say TNC members are urban and wealthy, implying they are potentially ripe consumers for products linked with TNC's logo.

TNC doesn't disclose whether its co-branding or partnership policies require companies to do anything "green," or whether TNC will embark upon a co-branding initiative with any company willing to pay. A spokeswoman for TNC tries to explain:

"[B]ecause the circumstances of each partnership varies so widely, we must carefully examine each partnership on a case by case basis and put each through a thorough review. For this reason, how we decide which partnership is appropriate really depends on the situation," says Emily Whitted, who adds all corporate partnerships must be approved by TNC,s president.

Critics contend TNC's co-branding initiatives are misleading, because companies use the logo even though their products may not be environmentally friendly or produced using sustainable agriculture. For example, General Mills' "Nature Valley" granola bars adopted the Conservancy logo in 1998, without having to adopt more environmentally friendly practices, says a Consumers Union spokesperson in the Post series. In addition, says the Post, the packaging never disclosed that until recently, a General Mills corporate director sat on TNC's board.

According to The Nature Conservancy's website, the Nature Valley-TNC relationship has given TNC valuable public exposure. Nature Valley advertises various TNC causes and events on its popular granola bar packages, and everyone who buys the bars sees a message promoting the Conservancy. "These programs provide excellent ways to promote the Conservancy's mission, inform people of this successful partnership, and educate the public about Nature Valley's commitment to the environment," says the website. It does not say what Nature Valley's "commitment to the environment" entails, aside from its commitment to promote The Nature Conservancy. (See more at: TNC's webpage on this)

In addition, TNC says "cause-related marketing" is a promotional tool widely used by dozens of non-profit groups from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to the American Cancer Society. Through cause-related marketing and co-branding, "the organization receives a financial contribution as well as expanded name recognition, and the company can be viewed in a favorable light by the public for having supported the nonprofit cause," says TNC's response to the Post series.

Other corporate sponsors have given TNC large cash donations and led to questionable partnerships. For example:

• Centex Corp. — One of America's biggest housing construction firms. Gave TNC $3 million. Centex and its subsidiaries have built hundreds of thousands of suburban dwellings, many in the District of Columbia's urban shadow. The Post quotes one unidentified TNC scientist as saying that "[urban] sprawl is without a doubt the most pervasive threat." Still, in 2001, the Texas chapter of TNC gave Centex Homes an award for "corporations that have shown leadership in and dedication to conserving natural resources." The Post does not say what Centex did to win the award.
• Georgia-Pacific Corp. — One of the world's biggest producers of packaging, lumber and paper products. Gave TNC $3 million in 2000 alone. TNC helped GP manage environmental risks from logging along North Carolina'ss Lower Roanoke River. Company chair A.D. "Pete" Correll, a Conservancy board member, said: "It has absolutely changed GP's image."
• International Paper Co. — One of the world's biggest producers of packaging, paper and wood products. Member of TNC's International Leadership Council. The Post reports that in 1998, the company sold 185,000 acres of Maine forest to TNC for $35 million. TNC then hired a company to log almost three-quarters of the land to offset costs.
• S.C. Johnson & Sons — Gave $100,000 to TNC in return for using the Conservancy's logo on ads for toilet cleaner and other products. The company's chair also sat on TNC's board.

TNC defends its relationships with logging companies, saying it persuades the companies to adopt better harvesting methods. Other environmental groups disagree. The Dogwood Alliance, an umbrella-group of 70 grassroots environmental groups, says the changes are superficial. For a few minor changes, they say, companies such as Georgia-Pacific and International Paper can wrap themselves in the green flag of conservation, improving their public image while proceeding with business as usual. "It makes it seem they are doing great things for the environment when what they're doing is destroying the South's natural heritage," former Dogwood spokesperson Trevor Fitzgibbon told the Post.

Corporate influence makes TNC soft on climate change

The Post says: TNC is one of the last environmental groups to recognize global warming and the need to cut greenhouse gases. It notes two of TNC's top corporate supporters (Exxon Mobil and GM) have long opposed stricter emission-cutting measures.

TNC responds: "In fact, the Conservancy was at the forefront of the movement to set aside forests as a mechanism to offset atmospheric carbon emissions, with our first climate-action project' in Belize in 1994." TNC goes on to say it works with governments and industry to create climate-action projects to protect threatened forests and reduce atmospheric carbon levels, since forests act as carbon sinks.

The Post says: One TNC initiative supports supplying corporations with pollution credits. GM gave $10 million to the plan.

TNC responds: "The Post series neglected to report that the $10 million contributed by General Motors toward a pollution credits' plan actually funded an important climate-action project whereby the $10 million was used to acquire and restore 30,000 acres of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world."

The Post says: Oil companies that want to drill in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge also sit on TNC's International Leadership Council. The Conservancy refused to choose sides in the debate over whether to drill.

TNC responds: "[T]hose who know us know we do not take vocal, public stands advocating one position or the other. This would compromise our radical center' position. We leave outspoken advocacy to fellow conservation groups."

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