(Paris) The consulting giant McKinsey & Company sought to promote carbon credit projects at one of the COP28 preparatory summits, tools criticized but highly coveted by its fossil fuel clients to offset their CO emissions.2according to internal documents and sources who spoke to AFP.
These documents show in particular that the company, which works for several large oil and gas companies, ranging from the American ExxonMobil to the Saudi state-owned company Aramco, worked covertly to shape the agenda of the African Summit on climate, last September in Nairobi.
A confidential nine-page “position paper” (document intended to assert the position of an organization on an issue), to which AFP had access, notably praises the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative , ACMI) which McKinsey has publicly stated it helped develop, calling for the creation of a $6 billion market for carbon credits on the African continent.
Commercial agreements
Carbon credits are presented as a way for companies to offset their CO emissions2 by supporting projects aimed, for example, at avoiding deforestation, to achieve their “carbon neutrality” objectives.
One credit is normally equivalent to one tonne of CO2 absorbed or stored thanks to these projects but numerous studies and journalistic investigations have shown that their environmental benefits were largely overestimated.
“When McKinsey got involved in planning the summit, it was looking to benefit from the resulting trade deals,” says Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa research group.
Mr. Adow was one of around thirty African and international advisors from research groups, foundations and international organizations who were asked by organizers to review the position paper intended to establish the agenda of the discussions.
According to him, McKinsey played a leading role in the drafting of this document, strongly criticized by several advisors, who believe that the role of carbon markets is exaggerated, they explained in comments exchanged between them, and consulted by AFP.
Carbon credits are often put forward as one of the solutions to combat global warming but experts argue that they should not take precedence over other devices aimed at financing the transition of developing countries and should not be used by companies to prevent them from reducing their own emissions.
More than 500 civil society groups signed a letter of protest to Kenyan President William Ruto ahead of the meeting, saying McKinsey had “unduly influenced” the summit through key documents written on behalf of the host country .
“Technical partner”
McKinsey has denied wrongdoing and Kenyan Environment Minister Soipan Tuya said it would be “extremely far from the truth” to say the company had undue influence during the summit.
The firm told AFP that it had only been a “technical partner” and that all documents had been “approved by the African Climate Summit and the government of Kenya”.
Archived web pages indicate that mention of the company as a partner has been removed from the event website. McKinsey claims to have been included in it in error.
Two members of the advisory group formed at the request of the Kenyan president, who requested anonymity, said they were unaware of McKinsey’s role.
But, according to these two experts, the “position paper” deviates from the positions long adopted by the African group, made up of 54 countries, and does not take into account the continent’s main priorities, such as the money needed to help African economies to face the consequences of climate change.
McKinsey claims for its part that the documents “were intended for the president of Kenya and that they reflected his ambitions, not those of McKinsey”.
“Given its list of clients, McKinsey had an undeniable conflict of interest” by participating in this summit, Mr. Adow told AFP.
In a confidential document touting its expertise in carbon markets, the firm lists the companies it had advised, including Chevron, BP, Tata Steel.
It also highlights its work in solar, wind and gas power, as well as electrification and the “performance transformation” of companies operating coal or oil power plants.
Disputed effectiveness
The African climate summit secured hundreds of millions of dollars in pledges for carbon offsetting projects, including $450 million from the United Arab Emirates, the oil and gas powerhouse hosting COP28.
Many oil majors are also already buyers of carbon credits generated on the continent.
The environmental benefits but also in terms of development for local indigenous communities are the subject of growing criticism from civil society.
The COP28 in Dubai failed to regulate this market which has been growing without a framework for several years.
The latest scandal to date, in October, South Pole, the largest seller of carbon credits, withdrew from a vast contested forest protection program in Zimbabwe. McKinsey was one of the companies that purchased credits from the latter.
A United Nations report had already concluded last year that “too many non-state actors” were entering this market marked by “low prices”, less than one dollar per tonne compared to 16 at the end of January 2022, and “ a lack of clear guidelines”, which increases the risks of greenwashing.