Plant-for-the-Planet promises reforestation. Meanwhile Frithjof Finkbeiner is clearing forest for luxury housing
And trying to sell an “extremely lucrative” beach villa to Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico.
“We restore and conserve forests in Mexico, Ghana and Spain,” Plant-for-the-Planet announces on its website. The organisation is famous for its tree-planting wunderkind, Felix Finkbeiner.
But Frithjof Finkbeiner, Felix’s father and the founder of Plant-for-the-Planet, leads something of a double life. In 2001, together with his wife, Karolin, he founded a housing development company called Tankah Enterprise in Mexico.
Tankah Enterprise is clearing areas of forest on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico for a gated community of about 100 villas and 50 townhouses.
Journalists Tin Fischer and Hannah Knuth of the Zeit recently reported on Finkbeiner senior’s most recent environmental and financial blunders.
The housing development is on a piece of land north of Tulum. The development is called Tulum Gardens. As well as the houses, it features a yoga area, a pool park, swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts, a spa and sauna, and an arts and crafts workshop.
Tankah Enterprise has another development in Playa del Carmen. The company’s website states that it “aims to lead the charge in sustainable development”.
Fischer and Knuth report that according to the Mexican corporate register, Karolin Finkbeiner owns the majority of Tankah Enterprise. Felix Finkbeiner holds almost 25% of the shares in the company through a family limited partnership.
Plant-for-the-Planet’s dubious record
Tin Fischer first wrote about Plant-for-the-Planet in March 2019. Fischer called into question the numbers of trees that Plant-for-the-Planet claimed to have planted. Some of the claims were clearly fake (in particular a straight line of trees running from Chad, through Nigeria, and far into the Atlantic Ocean).
In 2020, Knuth and Fischer wrote about Plant-for-the-Planet’s reforestation efforts on the Yucatán Peninsula. Some of the areas, they found, were already forested. Some areas had burned down. Other areas were flooded.
Following this second post on REDD-Monitor, Helge Bork of Plant-for-the-Planet wrote to me saying that “Plant-for-the-Planet and would like to talk to you.” It turned out that Frithjof Finkbeiner wanted to speak to me. I asked for an on-the-record interview, and sent him some questions. And that was the last I heard from Plant-for-the-Planet.
In April 2021, Joachim Rienhardt a journalist with the German magazine Stern reported on Plant-for-the-Planet’s operations in Mexico. He found a large area of Plant-for-the-Planet’s tree planting area had been flooded, two-metres deep for more than half a year. Reinhardt found that Plant-for-the-Planet was dominated by Frithjof Finkbeiner, with very little oversight.
Clearing forest for luxury housing
Before the development of the Tulum Gardens gated community the land was forested. Tankah Enterprise describes the “stunning views” and the “lush greenery” surrounding the development.
When the Zeit asked Frithjof Finkbeiner about the development, he did not deny that it involves clearing forest. Finkbeiner explained that he thinks it is important to “limit the encroachment on nature to a minimum” and that in any case the trees are only 30 years old.
Tankah Enterprise’s website states that “Profits from our properties fund ecological restoration, supporting global research for a brighter future.”
In 2020, Frithjof Finkbeiner told the Zeit that,
“There are and have never been any overlapping resources between my professional activities and Plant-for-the-Planet in Germany or Mexico. They are completely different things.”
But a man called Raúl Negrete is CEO of Tankah Enterprise and has been honorary president of Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico since it was founded in 2013.
Turtle Heart Villa
Fischer and Knuth uncovered a very questionable link between Tankah Enterprise and Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico.
In 2023, Tankah Enterprise wanted to buy a house called Turtle Heart Villa. The villa is next to one of Tankah Enterprise’s projects on the beach in Tulum and would be incorporated into the project.
The price agreed with the US couple that owned the house was US$1.65 million. Tankah Enterprise paid US$350,000, but before the rest of the money was handed over, Frithjof Finkbeiner told the US couple he wanted to change the buyer for the villa. The new buyer would be Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico.
In an email to the US couple, and seen by the Zeit, Finkbeiner wrote that,
Raúl, Karolin and I have decided to support the non-profit organisation Plant for the Planet A.C. by making the organisation the owner of the Turtle Heart Villa for US$1.3 million and Tankah Enterprise will support them with the US$350,000 already paid.
Raúl Negrete sent an updated purchase agreement and wrote that Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico was “ready and able to transfer the US$1.3 million”. The board in Mexico had agreed to buy the Turtle Heart Villa. Negrete later denied this when asked by Plant-for-the-Planet Germany.
The sale fell through because the parties could not agree on new conditions.
Plant for the Planet in Germany raises large amounts of money much of with goes to Mexico for tree planting. Fischer and Knuth report that according to Mexican accounts, between 2014 and 2023, Plant for the Planet Mexico received about US$28 million. In 2023 it had assets of more than US$10 million.
But this is money for tree planting. Not for buying a beach villa.
“Shattered”
When the Zeit asked Plant-for-the-Planet Germany about the villa, the organisation wrote that,
The process surrounding a planned purchase of the Turtle Heart Villa by Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico was not known to the German foundation, its decision-makers, or even Felix Finkbeiner until your inquiry.
We see a great risk of further damage to trust and expressly distance ourselves from such planning.
After the Zeit reported on Plant-for-the-Planet’s operations in 2020, Plant-for-the-Planet Germany has appointed a new board. Frithjof and Karolin Finkbeiner have resigned from Plant-for-the-Planet Germany. Felix Finkbeiner has left the board and now receives a salary from Plant for the Planet.
Since 2023, Fischer and Knuth write, the board in Germany has been “systematically pursuing the goal” of “removing” Frithjof and Karolin Finkbeiner from “any responsibility” in the international Plant-for-the-Planet network.
Plant-for-the-Planet Germany told the Zeit that Felix’s relationship with his parents is “shattered”. Felix said that he is thinking about selling his shares in Tankah Enterprise.
Meanwhile, Plant-for-the-Planet Germany has “no relationship whatsoever” with Tankah Enterprise. The chair of Plant-for-the-Planet Germany’s board, Jens Waltermann, told the Zeit that, “From everything we know at the moment, no money has flowed from Tankah Enterprise to the organisation in Mexico to date.”
Frithjof Finkbeiner explained to the Zeit that he offered the beach villa to Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico because it was “extremely lucrative”. It could have sold the villa quickly and used the profit to plant more trees, according to Finkbeiner.
“Extremely unusual”
Professor Michael Stöber is an expert in tax and foundation law at the University of Kiel. He raised the alarm about the lack of oversight in Plant-for-the-Planet in 2021 in an interview with the Stern.
Stöber told the Zeit that the deal with the beach villa was “extremely unusual”. He said he had never heard of a non-profit organisation “speculating with property in this way”. Stöber added that Plant-for-the-Planet Germany “has a duty to ensure that the funds in Mexico are used appropriately and must create relevant control mechanisms”.
Thank you for this, there's another movie script in here somewhere! On another matter, "sustainable development," like "military intelligence," is an oxymoron. Sustainable development for a high-rise would, I suppose, eventually reach the Moon?