A bad week for EACOP, a good week for people and the environment
Uganda: A new analysis by NGOs suggests that CNOOC and TotalEnergies – the corporations involved in the multi‑billion‑dollar project – continue to face financing challenges. At the same time, a court in Paris has convicted TotalEnergies of greenwashing.
“TotalEnergies financiers beware: EACOP is eating up money, nature, and livelihoods,” is the title of an article by the organization BankTrack on the latest analysis of the financing of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). According to the study, the pipline’s developers, led by the French company TotalEnergies, are being forced to finance the project almost entirely on their own.
The developers have abandoned plans to finance 60 percent of rising project costs through bank loans and are now covering nearly 90 percent themselves. The financial risk update was prepared by a coalition of African and international civil society organizations.
A total of 43 banks and 30 (re)insurers have declined to participate in EACOP, largely due to pressure from the #StopEACOP alliance, of which Rainforest Rescue is also a member.
Court: TotalEnergies is engaging in greenwashing
TotalEnergies recently suffered a setback in court in Paris: on October 23, the court ruled that the oil company's advertising was illegal. It found that the company had misled consumers by claiming to play a major role in transitioning away from fossil fuel energy to green technology even though it continues to promote and sell oil and gas.
The lawsuit was filed by the organizations Les Amis de la Terre France, Greenpeace France, and Notre Affaire à Tous, with support from ClientEarth.
According to these groups, this was the first time anywhere in the world that an oil and gas company had been convicted of greenwashing for falsely advertising its role in fighting climate change.
Specifically, TotalEnergies claimed that it had placed “the climate at the heart” of its strategy. However, the company continues to pursue oil and gas projects in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda - including EACOP and the Tilenga production project.
The court ordered TotalEnergies and TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France to stop their misleading claims within one month, with a fine of €10,000 per day of delay. In addition, the court decision must be published prominently on the website www.totalenergies.fr for 180 days.
For technical reasons, the court dismissed the lawsuit against TotalEnergies’ claim that natural gas and agrofuels cause 50 to 90 percent fewer emissions than gasoline and diesel.
The ruling and the claims that were disputed can be found on page 37 of the document.
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