Samuele Landi, former adviser to Blue Carbon LLC, found dead after a storm destroyed the barge he was living on
Landi’s plans to develop a floating city for 5,000 people came to a tragic end.
Samuele Landi, former adviser to the Dubai-based carbon company Blue Carbon LLC, was found dead following a huge storm in the Persian Gulf earlier this month. Landi lived on a barge in international waters off Dubai. On 2 February 2024, a wave split the barge in two. Two other people living on the barge were also killed, and two were rescued.
Landi founded Eutelia, an Italian telecommunications company, which was declared bankrupt in June 2010. He fled to Dubai to avoid an eight-year jail sentence for fraudulent bankruptcy.
Landi denied committing any crime. When REDD-Monitor wrote about Landi in December 2023, he responded at length in the comments following the article.
He claimed that his reason for living on a barge in international waters as a “seasteader” was because “he was looking for more freedom”. Not because he was avoiding arrest.
According to The Times, he spent US$200,000 on the rusty barge and hired four crew.
Oswald Horowitz is a British film-maker who is working on a documentary about Landi. He spent three weeks on the barge last year.
“I will die at sea for sure,” Landi told Horowitz. “I’m not going back.”
“I’m 58. So I think this is my last possible adventure. Better to finish in adventure than on a bed when you are very old.”
Blue Carbon LLC
Blue Carbon has not commented on Landi’s death. All mention of Landi’s name was been removed from the company’s website shortly before COP28. He was previously listed as one of the two people on the company’s board of advisers.
The other adviser was Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who serves on several committees advising the Government of Pakistan and the World Bank on climate change. According to his LinkedIn page, he was an adviser to Blue Carbon from August 2022 to July 2023. He was still listed on the company’s website as being a member of Blue Carbon’s board of advisers in November 2023.
In the run-up to COP28 in Dubai, Blue Carbon was extremely active. The company signed MoUs to develop carbon projects with the governments of Liberia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, Papua New Guinea, Union of Comoros, St. Lucia, Bahamas, and Commonwealth of Dominica. The company’s website adds “and others” to this list, but does not name any other countries.
Since COP28, Blue Carbon has been silent. No press releases. Nothing on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.
Article 6 compliant?
On its website, the company states that, “Blue Carbon’s initiative is driven by an Article 6 compliant approach.” Here’s what Blue Carbon writes about Article 6:
The Article 6 mechanism of the Paris Agreement fosters a collaborative approach, allowing for higher ambition in mitigation actions while promoting sustainable development and environmental integrity. Article 6 outlines the process and mechanisms for this international cooperation, including the development and registration of Mitigation Outcomes (MOs) transactable as International Transfer Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) or for Other Intended Mitigation Purposes (OIMPs).
As per Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, our projects operate in direct collaboration with governments, whereby all decisions regarding project implementation and the resulting benefits are made in conjunction with government.
The stringency of the integrity, transparency and compliance requirements of Article 6 ensures that our projects uphold high standards of integrity and transparency – guaranteeing greater impact and value.
The company acknowledges that the Article 6 rules have not yet been finalised. “As Article 6 gains clarity, the approved methodologies will continue to guide our process,” Blue Carbon states. “We remain fluid and attuned to this ever-evolving landscape.”
Blue Carbon was created in October 2022, and has never developed or implemented a forest carbon project. Yet it has signed carbon deals covering a total area significantly larger than the United Kingdom.
REDD-Monitor has sent some questions to Josiane Sadaka, CEO of Blue Carbon to find out more about exactly how Blue Carbon plans to develop its Article 6 compliant REDD projects.
I look forward to posting her response in due course. (I’ll also add a link from this post.)
The New York Times ran a long article about Landi in January 2025:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/business/samuele-landi-offshore-seastead.html
And The Financial Times' FT Alphaville covered the story in June 2025:
https://www.ft.com/content/84d9e3a7-713b-4f30-9f25-5797c325ce4e
Honestly, I had nothing to do with the destruction of Landi's barge, and I have good alibis to tell where I was all that time. As for how Blue Carbon disappeared, I know nothing about that either, but the world seems to be missing nothing substantial, and the United Kingdom is still there.