Monday, December 10, 2007

China chemical plant reaps "green" U.N. profit

From Reuters:

3F is one of China's top chemical firms with a plant outside the city of Changshu, which translates as constant harvest, that sends ingredients for everything from aerosols to fire-extinguishers around the world.

But the financial harvest the plant is reaping from its smallest, shiniest unit comes not from making a chemical, but destroying one.

Some 18 people run and monitor the unit round the clock, compared to the sprawling plant's 900 employees.

It rakes in millions of euros of revenue, much of which the plant uses to clean up its environmental standards, under a $5 billion scheme created by the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

Several investors courted the company as early as 2004, and CDM Programme Manager Ellen Cai said 3F chose the World Bank because it offered expertise in boosting environmental protection for all 3F's product lines, rather than just cash....MORE