Investing in the Future
By Charlie Schwartz
When you look at Lenny Hoschild, a father of three, CEO, and overall nice guy, you wouldn’t think he would be involved in one of the greatest business scandals in American history. Growing up in New York, Hoschild was introduced to the commodity business very early on, through both his father and uncle, who worked in the metal industry. Despite his fascination for the commodities industry, Hoschild believed that he was going to become a lawyer, taking various internships involving criminal and business law. However, after being
involved in a murder case in London with a guilty suspect, he decided that criminal law was not for him, eventually making his way back into the business world through other corporate and business internships.
Thats how I got my foot in the door into the energy business
“What I realized was I thought the international trade part was fascinating, but I wasn’t quite as interested in the legal aspect, but more in the business,”
(Hoschild)
Now hooked on commodities once again, in the 90’s, Hoschild went to work in London and then for his father in New York, however he felt that he could do more. “I wanted to see what I could do by myself, and at the time, there was this company called Enron… it was a very prestigious place to get a job if you’re in the commodities trading business.”(Hoschild) He would make his way into the coal trading part of the business, despite knowing nearly nothing about it, or its effects, “That’s how I got my foot in the
door into the energy business.(Hoschild)”
No model had mapped out if
everybody
stops driving at the same time.
At the time, the world was getting introduced to Climate Change, and the environmental factors of industrialization, which is when Enron began trading Environmental Certificates. Environmental Certificates are essentially credits based on a company’s limit of Carbon Emissions, which can be redeemed in the form of payment by the government. While things seemed to be going well for Hoschild at Enron, a huge scandal regarding embezzlement of many senior members at the company caused it to close down and file for bankruptcy which had been the largest amount of assets seized in US history at the time amounting to over 60 billion dollars according to britannica.com. While Lenny had no idea about the scandal , he recalled describing the financial process
to his father previous to the scandal who had told Lenny that he believed something weird was going on. Despite his warning, Lenny continued to work at Enron, until they filed for Bankruptcy in 2001.
Post-Enron, Lenny went to work at a large energy company called American Electric, giving the majority of the US its electricity at the time. He focused on the environmental commodities part of the business, eventually leaving it for an environmental based brokerage firm, traveling around the world and meeting new people for over 16 years, says Hoschild.
After trading and building his client list, who would become close friends, Hoschild along with his co-founders would decide to start their
own business in 2017 called Environmental Commodity Partners. Made up of just 8 employees, his company specializes in the use of Carbon Credits, which is the “Generation of one unit of clean energy,” according to Hoschild. It can also be accounted for by the reduction of carbon emissions from energy companies and
Hopefully younger kids, your age will be able to see that progress is being made.
mass producers. “This ensures that one ton of Greenhouse Gasses has not gone into the atmosphere [per carbon credit].”(Hoschild) His company also specializes in working with companies and separate investors to fund environmentally friendly projects. He prioritizes both making money for himself and his investors and also benefiting the climate crisis. Specifically, Len-
ny along with his two co-founders are responsible for a number of things including hiring and managing employees, investment and business decisions, and doing right by their investors, to name a few.
“It’s basically just being a small business Entrepreneur.”(Hoschild)
California has a very large program to reduce greenhouse gasses and emissions in comparison to other states and countries. Costs for such credits and certificates depend on activity of this type of commodity business along with how much a government is funding and supporting environmental impact support.
“The most interesting piece is trying to understand why there are so many different prices for all these different markets.”(Hoschild)
Another unique part about Lenny’s business is that he did not start his company with any large backer investment, but had to gradually earn investments. Kim Stienman, a long time friend of Hoschild, and fellow CEO said that she thinks he has informed and helped her improve her Carbon footprint dramatically.
“We took a big leap of faith and really took a risk and so far, so good.”(Hoschild)
After growing his company for numerous years, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged almost causing Lenny to lose his company.
“No model had mapped out t if everybody stops driv- ing at the same time.”(Hoschild)
The price of the Carbon Credits collapsed within one day over 40 percent, and Lenny said his company was not positioned for that. Environmental Commodity Partners nearly lost one of their major funds that they managed, which would had been catastrophic to the company. According to the Department of Transportation, driving had hit an all time low in a matter of days, since industrialization 200 years prior, which had dramatically decreased the amount of carbon emissions being put out. This was both good for the planet and bad for Lenny, as his business relied on people who usually would emit, not
emitting.
“We almost didn’t survive in March of 2020.”(Hoschild)
Despite troubles through the pandemic, Lenny’s company was able to make a full recovery, marking their profits at nearly half a billion dollars, Lenny said.
We took a big leap of faith and really took a risk, and so far, so good.
“We want to raise a billion dollars. You know, we ’re kind of just under halfway there at the moment. “(Hoschild)
Environmental Commodity partners are now focused on two major things; “a good return for our investors on a risk adjusted base,” (Hoschild), and impacting the environment in a positive way.
“Hopefully, leave a company behind that continues to survive and thrive beyond myself and my two co founders.”(Hoschild)
Lenny says that if he can benefit the environment while still maintaining a profit for himself and his investors, then he has really achieved his goals.
“Hopefully, young kids, right, your age will be able to see that progress is being made.”
Lenny also believes
that despite the common bad news that is heard regarding climate change, we as a society are making huge progress in the right direction. This includes fascinating news that China built more solar panels last year than ever before in the entire world.
According to Climate. org, while the temperature of the earth is still rising, we have made significant progress, and possibly have peaked our emissions years before schedule.
“A lot of people are now beginning to think we might already be reaching peak emissions for the world decades ahead of time, so there’s actually a lot of hope…it’s definitely not all bad news and sometimes positive change happens faster than you think.”(Hoschild)
If you would like to learn more about Lenny and his business, scan the QR code to his website.
About the Author:
Charlie is a junior at Mountain View High School who enjoys sking, playing Lacrosse, and writing for the school newspaper, The Oracle. In his free time, he likes to hang out with friends, cook for his family, play with is three dogs and sun bathe. Charlie was inspired to write this story after hearing overhearing Lenny talk about his experience with the Enron scandal. Lenny and Charlie have known eachother for Charlie’s whole life, as Charlie’s mom and him grew up together in New York.
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