“By issuing carbon credits to companies for reducing emissions in the developing world, the United Nations aimed to inject cash into poor communities supporting the growth of sustainable industry,†Elisabeth Rosenthal wrote in The New York Times. But in the remote village of Nathkuva adjacent to Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited's coolant gas plant, “environmental groups and residents have been at loggerheads with the company over pollution since it opened in 1989.â€
“The hulking factory that looms behind the tiny vegetable plots in this poor village is one of the largest manufacturers of a coolant gas that keeps air-conditioners whirring across the globe,†Ms. Rosenthal wrote.
Villagers complain of “rashes and birth defects and display warped ears of corn, which they contend are the result of pollution from the plant,†she wrote.
Mahesh Pandya, an engin eer and the executive director of the Indian environmental group Paryavaran Mitra, said he was shocked when he heard that Gujarat Fluorochemicals was going to be awarded United Nations carbon credits in 2005, soon after a nighttime gas leak from the factory prompted frustrated villagers to riot at the factory gates.
“I thought, how can they get United Nations carbon credits when they're making people sick and polluting the land?†Dr. Pandya said in his simple office in Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat State, where he was surrounded by paperwork from his legal battles with the factory.
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