Stop funding Abellon's 'polluting' waste-to-energy plants in Gujarat: NGOs to World Bank

By Rajiv Shah 
Over 170 civil society organisations, regional and global networks and activists have asked the World Bank board of directors to reject the financing of the four Waste-to-Energy (WTE) incineration projects proposed to be built in Gujarat by Abellon Clean Energy Limited (ACEL). 

They have written a letter highlighting the projects' negative impacts on communities, including air and water pollution, health issues, climate impacts, and undermining sustainable waste management practices.

The collective letter has been jointly written by the Centre for Financial Accountability, International Accountability Project, National Hawkers Federation, GAIA-Asia Pacific, and Break Free From Plastics, and endorsed by 174 civil society organizations, regional and global networks and activists.

ACEL is developing the four WTE incineration plants in Rajkot, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Jamnagar with a cumulative capacity of 52.20 MW. 
According to th letter, ACEL's operational WTE incineration plant in Jamnagar has already demonstrated significant negative impacts on the 25,000 people living in its vicinity and suffering from air pollution, noise pollution, and health problems such as skin ailments, asthma, eye irritation etc. The local communities are thus concerned about the expansion of the incinerator plant through this project. 

“Initially we were told that all the waste would be converted into electricity but after the operations started there was a lot of pollution and bad odor from the plant. We have complained to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, the Municipal Commissioner, and the District Collector, but still, the communities continue to suffer. A further expansion of the plant will only increase the pollution and is unacceptable to us,” said Ker Jayendrasinh, who has been supporting the local communities in Jamnagar.
According to the letter, seeing the harmful effects of the WTE incinerator plants in Jamnagar and the lack of proper consultations held by IFC and ACEL with affected communities in the other project areas, local civil society organisations and activists are concerned about the construction of the proposed WTE incinerators in the other locations.

“There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding the technology, impacts, displacement, and compensation of the project by Abellon and repeated queries regarding the same have not been answered by the company,” said advocate Shailendrasinh R Jadeja, Rajkot.
Additionally, there are major flaws in the project's Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, in violation of both IFC performance standards and Indian environmental laws. To circumvent the Government of India’s (GoI’s) environmental norms, the WTE incineration project size was deliberately kept at 14.9 MW instead of 15 MW, to escape the Environmental Clearance (EC) mandated by the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) rules 2006, the letter noted. 

Despite being considered a “red category” project in India for its massive environmental and social risks, this project has been given a lower risk rating of “Category B” by the IFC, said Vaishnavi Varadarajan, who is with the International Accountability Project articulates the lack of proper due diligence for this project, adding, “The diluted and flawed environment and social impact assessment by IFC for these toxic WTE incinerators that contribute to excessive pollution and are linked to fossil fuels indicates that IFC has not been compliant to its safeguards and also to the Paris Agreement."

These WTE incinerator plants also threaten the livelihood of waste workers as large quantities of waste in the project sites will get directed to the incinerators, thus affecting the informal economy of waste picking and recycling, the letter asserted. 

Jay Vyas, National Hawkers Federation said, “The situation in Jamnagar where there are no waste workers at the dump sites confirms that waste workers who belong to vulnerable indigenous and dalit communities will lose their livelihood because of these incinerators. Also, waste worker unions in Gujarat confirmed to us that waste workers were not consulted at the project sites by the company.”
Besides the community impacts and environmental and social concerns, the poor financial performance of WTE incineration plants in India also casts a shadow over the viability of ACEL's projects and their potential economic burden on local governments,  A report by the Centre for Financial Accountability, revealed how despite strong policy and financial support, WTE incinerators in India have failed. Chythenyen D Kulasekaran, Centre for Financial Accountability says, "WTEs make profits on the shoulder of the public funds in the form of subsidies and grants they receive. Yet, WTEs produce the costliest form of electricity at about 7 rupees per unit, which the government pays. There is a double burden on the state exchequer."
According to the letter, WTE incinerators are a "false solution", contributing to pollution that exacerbates the climate crisis. The proposed WTE incineration plants will cumulatively burn about 3,750 tons of garbage every day and generate CO2 equivalent to the emissions from about 18,75,000 cars.

“WTE incinerators are poised to become the most carbon-intensive power source once coal is phased out. Burning a tonne of plastic waste alone results in the release of around 1.43 tonnes of CO2. It destroys recycling, reuse, and refill options and disincentives reduction of producing new materials so less will have to be managed as wastes,” said Miriam Mayang Azurin, GAIA.
"In light of these findings, we urge the World Bank to not only reject this project but to cease all funding for waste-to-energy initiatives, prioritizing environmental protection and community well-being over unsustainable energy solutions", the letter demanded.