In 2015, fishing communities and farmers in Gujarat, India, sued the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank, in federal court in Washington, D.C., to challenge the IFC’s claim that it has “absolute” immunity from suit. Representing these communities, EarthRights International seeks to prove the IFC is not – as it believes – above the law.
The IFC provided a critical $450M loan to fund the destructive Tata Mundra Ultra Mega coal-fired power plant project along the Gujarat coast that has destroyed the natural resources relied upon by generations of local families for fishing, farming, salt-panning, and animal rearing.