![]() ![]() The Sasan project was initially rejected by the bank for financing because of the extremely high carbon emissions from the coal-powered plant. In 2010, Sasan was handed a $650m export finance loan by the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), a taxpayer-funded branch of the federal government that ostensibly exists to support American jobs and contribute to the US Treasury. But since it began operating in 2012, the project has been caught in a storm of health and safety violations, environmental concerns and land disputes. Sasan, an ambitious project by Indian energy utility Reliance Power, consumes coal incessantly from a nearby mine in the promise of lighting the homes of almost 300 million people in the country. A heavy blanket of smog wraps around the industrial district and its residents. Sasan ultra mega power project, Madhya Pradesh, IndiaĪ hulking thermal power plant funded by American money shimmers in orange when night settles in India’s coal-rich district of Singrauli. ![]() This is the unexpected story of how Obama’s legacy is playing out overseas. While Obama can claim the US is the world’s leader on climate change – at least until Donald Trump enters the White House – it is also clear that it has become a major funder of fossil fuels that are having a serious impact upon people’s lives. And in Australia, an enormous US-backed gas development is linked to a glut of fracking activity that has divided communities and brought a new wave of industrialization next to the cherished Great Barrier Reef. In South Africa, another huge project is set to exacerbate existing air pollution problems, deforestation and water shortages. In India, we heard complaints about coal ash blowing into villages, contaminated water and respiratory and stomach problems, all linked to a project that has had more than $650m in backing from the Obama administration. Guardian and Columbia reporters have spent time at American-backed projects in India, South Africa and Australia to document the sickness, upheavals and environmental harm that come with huge dirty fuel developments. The president has called global warming “terrifying” and helped broker the world’s first proper agreement to tackle it, yet his administration has poured money into developments that will push the planet even closer to climate disaster.įor people living next to US-funded mines and power stations the impacts are even more starkly immediate. This unprecedented backing of oil, coal and gas projects is an unexpected footnote to Obama’s own climate change legacy. ![]()
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