Greenpeace, others sought US intervention after action by India: Wikileaks
Greenpeace activists fly a hot air balloon depicting the globe next to the Eiffel Tower ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, known as the COP21 summit, in Paris, France, November 28, 2015. (REUTERS)
Environmental groups such as Greenpeace and other international NGOs working in India had sought US government intervention after their funding came under increased scrutiny of the Modi government, according to emails released by the Wikileaks.
The emails, hacked from the email account of John Podesta, who is the chairman of the Clinton Campaign, also indicates the global funding links of these NGOs, including those environmental groups opposing a massive mining project in Australia being undertaken by the Adani Group.
“Adani is very close to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi — so this will be a delicate diplomatic challenge,” Sergio Knaebel, grant director of the Sandler Foundation, wrote in an email to Podesta on May 27, 2015, months after he left the White House to be the Chairman of the Clinton Foundation.
Based out of San Francisco, the Sandler Foundation till 2015 had charitable grants of more than $750 million to various NGOs globally working in areas like environmental protection, labour, education, and human rights.
The Sandler Foundation among other things have funded the Sunrise Project, which is opposing Adani’s $21.7 billion mine project in Australia.
“The situation for NGOs in Australia is also getting pretty serious. The Abbot government has set its sights on organisations fighting the expansion of coal and for protecting the reef — and is looking to withdraw charitable status and out foreign donours in an effort to cast the NGO’s work as foreign intervention.
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