Subject: File No. SR-NYSE-2023-09 DO NOT ALLOW NACs
From: Jennifer Wimber
Affiliation:

Jan. 13, 2024

I urge you to NOT allow the NYSE to list “Natural Asset Companies” or NACs, pursuant to File No. SR-NYSE-2023-09.

To maintain a level playing field, free markets require some ground rules, which must not be manipulated. The continued efforts to financialize productive natural resources to subvert the legal system, to pervert the capital markets, and to cause harmful outcomes for both investors and the US alike cannot be enabled. 

From an investor protection perspective, NACs bastardize the capital markets for the political objective of “climate justice.” NACs are not merely a “new type” of company; they are highly irregular (using their own novel accounting system) and demand much scrutiny.

NACs seek to use others’ money, including that obtained via the capital markets, to buy the ability to control or “manage” productive public and private land and other natural resources. Their stated purpose in doing so is not to make a profit or to be productive, but rather to supposedly protect, conserve, restore, and preserve these natural “assets,” based on their own definitions.

As you well know, there is a very clear reason that a company goes public. It is to broadly access capital to provide both funding for growth and liquidity for existing investors, providing opportunities for investors to participate in future growth for the risk they take on. Companies are supposed to have strong merits and provide a path to growth for public investors in exchange. It is a rigorous and costly process both to become public and to stay public, and it is not for every business.

These NACs are a bastardization of that purpose. They aren’t seeking to manage resources to improve their earnings potential; rather they would often be seeking to remove the productivity of assets in the name of climate justice.

Not only could this impact our ability to generate and access energy, critical minerals, water, and food, but it could also put those decisions in the hands of institutions, such as foreign governments and their sovereign wealth funds, who could invest in these NACs and have de facto control over America’s resources.

The focus at the SEC is protecting investors. NACs allow investor money, particularly those deployed through entities that they may not control (for example, pension funds) to be used to decommission resources and make them non-productive for political means. Americans and the SEC cannot allow that to happen.

If you have any questions on whether this is a political tool meant to subvert the legal process, read the words of IEG’s Chairman, who said, “We were looking for a private-sector approach that wasn’t dependent on policy; it wasn’t dependent on traditional taxes, regulation, or philanthropy to price in these assets and give investors the opportunity to invest directly in nature, whether that’s for climate or biodiversity.” 
Source: https://eenews.net/articles/invest-in-nature-might-be-possible-with-natural-asset-companies/

NACs will subjugate fiduciary duty to do what is in the best interest of investors. Critical natural resources will be subject to the consolidation of a handful of wealthy and powerful individuals. And, even more frightening, control of productive resources - as well as our food supply, water, energy, tourism, and more - could end up in the hands of foreign nations and their sovereign wealth funds or other bad actors.

Wall Street often cultivates a bad reputation, and the SEC is supposed to be a counterbalance to make sure the markets are free and fair for everyone and have the interests of all investors at heart. Do the right thing - not that which is politically pushed and driven by the powerful elite. Do not allow NACs to access our capital markets via NYSE listings or otherwise.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Wimber
Springville, UT