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east african crude oil pipeline
Global Protests Target Chinese Financing of East African Crude Oil Pipeline
"The controversial EACOP project threatens pristine ecosystems, biodiversity hotspots, water resources, and community lands," said campaigners.
Nov 20, 2023
Campaigners assembled on Monday in four African countries and in Europe, rallying outside the headquarters of several Chinese financial institutions and embassies with one demand of Chinese officials: Withhold financing for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
The global campaign #StopEACOP has already helped push banks and insurers in North America, Europe, and Japan to refrain from getting involved in the project, which is being spearheaded by French multinational TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.
Now, the state-owned China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE), the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim), and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) are reportedly considering financially supporting the pipeline, which could lead to 379 million tons of fossil fuel emissions even as climate and energy experts warn there is no place for new gas and oil extraction on a pathway to limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C.
"Today, people stood united across borders to say this dangerous pipeline project must be stopped," said Zaki Mamdoo, #StopEACOP coordinator. "We urge SINOSURE, China Exim Bank, and the ICBC to listen to local communities and respect their rights, aspirations, and agency. By refusing to provide insurance or financing for EACOP, these entities must prove that they are not simply interested in profiting at the expense of Africa's well-being."
Organizers rallied at Chinese embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Kampala, Uganda; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and Tshwane, South Africa. In London, United Kingdom, climate campaigners held a solidarity action outside the offices of SINOSURE and in Paris, France they rallied at the offices of the China Exim Bank and the ICBC.
The planned pipeline would run from Hoima, Uganda to Tanga, Tanzania, transporting oil from two oil fields and potentially connecting to oil blocks in the DRC.
"The controversial EACOP project threatens pristine ecosystems, biodiversity hotspots, water resources, and community lands," said #StopEACOP, as well as "contradicting global climate goals."
Campaigners had planned to deliver petitions opposing the 896-mile pipeline, as well as documents containing analysis of the socioeconomic and climate impacts of the project. According to #StopEACOP, the pipeline would run through the basin of Lake Victoria, which more than 40 million people depend on for food and water; displace landowners who say they have already faced threats and intimidation; and run through the habitats of endangered animals including lions, giraffes, roan antelopes, and sables.
#StopEACOP reported that officials at the embassies refused to receive the documents.
Organizers also denounced authorities for arresting seven advocates in Kampala.
"Every time activists and communities stand up to peacefully oppose EACOP in Uganda, they are brutalized and arbitrarily arrested," said Brian Atuheire, executive director of the African Initiative on Food Security and Environment (AIFE). "Today, seven young activists have been detained for peacefully protesting outside the Chinese Embassy in Kampala. Despite the repression, we remain resolute and have drawn strength and courage from the incredible show of solidarity from comrades worldwide."
Richard Senkondo, executive director for the Organization for Community Engagement, said any institution supporting EACOP "is perpetrating injustice."
"This pipeline will destroy our land and water—our very way of life," said Senkondo. "It poses a grave threat to the environment and the well-being and rights of our communities."
"We are united with allies around the world in our continued resistance against this harmful project," Senkondo added. "Instead of supporting such projects, we urge these Chinese institutions to be a true ally to the African continent by favoring the development of people-centered renewable energy to power Africa's future."
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African Climate Leaders Say Nairobi Summit Fell Victim to Corporate Interests, False Solutions
"The solutions do not lie with private capital and the age-old profit driven model," said one advocate.
Sep 08, 2023
The historic Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya this week marked the first time leaders from across the continent convened to focus on the climate crisis, but campaigners on Friday said the voices of the most vulnerable were largely silenced during the three-day summit while leaders drafted a declaration that critics say fell prey to "distracting false solutions."
While the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action was applauded by advocates for its call to boost Africa's renewable energy capacity to 300 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, critics said leaders across the continent showed they are still too eager to bend to the interests and desires of the fossil fuel industry and its financial backers.
The declaration's demands include:
- A global carbon tax on fossil fuels, maritime transport, and aviation;
- Financial reforms to help fund climate action in Africa and the end of a system in which African countries are forced to pay more to borrow climate funds, leading to recurrent debt crises; and
- Stronger regulations of the harvesting and processing of the continent's minerals.
But groups including the think tank Power Shift Africa (PSA) said the commitment of hundreds of millions of dollars by international governments and development banks for carbon markets initiatives were "essentially, a diversion, and even wastage, of money that could go into investment in real climate solutions."
PSA called the African Carbon Market Initiative "a wolf in sheep's clothing" in a report released this month, warning that "polluters and investors" have for decades promoted carbon markets—in which fossil fuel companies claim to "offset" emissions by investing in conservation initiatives or sustainability—but the system enables "the wealthy to continue polluting, while giving an illusion of commensurate carbon neutralization through questionable accounting methodologies."
As Al Jazeera reported, the continent earns less than $10 per ton of carbon removed from the atmosphere in its existing market initiatives, while other regions can receive over $100.
Joab Bwire Okanda, a senior adviser at Christian Aid, welcomed the declaration's call for a global carbon tax but told the BBC that "to make polluters really pay, false solutions like carbon credits that allow polluters a free ride without taking meaningful action need to be consigned to the dustbin."
350.org said the summit should have ended with a renewable energy commitment that was far greater than 300 GW by the end of the decade, calling for 11,000 GW—"the level required to limit global heating to 1.5°C" over preindustrial levels.
"This is a good starting point, but it falls short of expectations," said Charity Migwi, regional campaigner for 350Africa.org. "As Africans grapple with the debilitating impacts of the climate crisis, African leaders engage in rhetoric and false solutions such as fossil gas and carbon markets that seek to delay meaningful climate action and the much-needed just transition away from fossil fuels, that is central to the fight against the climate crisis. African nations must walk the talk in regards to limiting global warming by shunning fossil fuels."
Zaki Mamdoo, campaign coordinator for StopEACOP, which aims to end French oil company TotalEnergies' East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, said the Nairobi Declaration "says little about the need to halt the development of new fossil fuels on the continent," even after a Human Rights Watch report in July showed the project has threatened the homes of more than 100,000 people in Tanzania and Uganda, caused food insecurity, and pushed children to leave school while also likely having "devastating environmental effects."
"This summit has provided a platform for governments to flirt with big business while [advocacy groups], trade unions, [and] youth organizations are confined to the fringes with little influence on the outcome of high-level deliberations," said Mamdoo. "If we are to use the crisis of climate as an opportunity to simultaneously uplift our people out of poverty and ensure the well-being of all—then we need the interests of these groups to be at the forefront of decision-making. The solutions do not lie with private capital and the age-old profit driven model."
Others agreed that "local voices" of people who have been most impacted by the climate emergency were missing from the summit.
"Their stories of hope, perseverance, suffering, and disaster were glaringly absent, hidden away behind security barriers and military armament," said Yegeshni Moodley, climate and energy justice campaign lead for Friends of the Earth South Africa. "The use of top-down, technocratic false solutions negates the value of local knowledge and traditional practices that have sustained generations on their land. We must decry and lament the situation Africa has been placed into, where her lands and riches are once again being sold away to the distress and poverty of her people.”
As Common Dreams reported earlier this month when the summit opened, a report by Oxfam found that wealthy nations have provided a small fraction of what East Africa needs to fight and adapt to the climate crisis—just $2.4 billion in aid in 2021, compared with the $53.3 billion needed annually to meet the targets of the Paris climate agreement.
People across the continent are facing the effects of the climate crisis, which has been blamed for a famine in Madagascar and has forced more than 1 million people in Somalia to leave their homes as a prolonged drought has overtaken the country.
Advocates say that Africa must be recognized as a key ally in providing solutions to the climate emergency rather than cast aside as a victim.
"Our leaders need to know that people across Africa are waking up to what needs to be done," said Essoklnam Pedessi of the Renewable Energy Coalition in Togo. "We are calling for less talk and more action. We need to break away from the failed approaches and distracting false solutions. Africa has abundant wind and solar to power up for 100% renewable energy."
"What it needs," she added, "is climate funding to unlock this potential."
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Climate Campaigners Urge Standard Bank to Ditch 'Alarming' East African Crude Oil Pipeline
Banks should "abandon the project and instead inject financing into safe, sustainable, community-centered renewable energy solutions to foster a just transition away from fossil fuels in Africa," said one advocate.
Jun 12, 2023
Hundreds of climate justice activists on Monday descended upon Standard Bank's offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they implored the financial institution to stop backing the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline and other harmful fossil fuel projects.
The protest, held during Standard Bank's annual general meeting, sought to draw shareholders' attention to the deleterious effects of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and persuade them to call on the bank to publicly withdraw its support for the development of such polluting infrastructure.
It was organized by the #StopEACOP coalition, which wants the bank not only to divest from EACOP and multiple liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Mozambique but also to redirect that money toward renewables to increase regional access to clean energy.
"With a powerful collective of South African activists and community organizations raising their voices to demand Standard Bank's withdrawal of support for EACOP, it is long overdue for the bank to pause and genuinely listen," the coalition's coordinator, Zaki Mamdoo, said in a statement. "They cannot assume they can sponsor the destruction of other African nations without intervention from South Africans. Today, their misconception has been shattered—our actions against Standard Bank will only intensify until they fully abandon EACOP and all similar projects."
\u201cComrades from South Africa hit the ground in solidarity with communities already experiencing the negative impacts of #EACOP. They're urging @StandardBankZA to listen to the people - their clients. Stop putting profits above communities. #StopEACOP!\u201d— StopEACOP (@StopEACOP) 1686566036
EACOP's aim is to transport heated crude oil nearly 900 miles through Uganda and Tanzania, where it would be shipped from Port Tanga through the Suez Canal to refineries in the Dutch city of Rotterdam and subsequently burned. As Common Dreams has reported, experts estimate that if completed, the project would generate 379 million tonnes of planet-heating emissions over 25 years, threaten biodiversity hotspots, and endanger the Lake Victoria basin on which more than 40 million people depend.
To get started, the project's developers—France-based TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, working alongside Ugandan and Tanzanian state-owned oil firms—are seeking a $3 billion loan from some of the largest commercial banks in the world.
Standard Bank, through its subsidiary Stanbic Uganda, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China are acting as the project's financial advisers. According to 350Africa.org, "These banks are expected to serve as lead arrangers, meaning that they will need to approach other banks to co-finance the deal and are actively raising funds to see EACOP constructed."
Inside the shareholder meeting, Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala indicated, in response to questions from Khaliel Moses of 350Africa.org, that the bank "will be providing finance directly" to EACOP. However, when asked for clarification, the bank's chair, Nonkululeko Nyembezi, responded that no decision had yet been made on financing the project. "What you are hearing perhaps is directionally how personally I am leaning," she said, confirming that the bank is still seriously considering lending to EACOP despite sustained opposition to it.
The #StopEACOP coalition said Monday that "the detrimental impacts of EACOP are already evident, even before the physical construction of the pipeline" has begun. Communities in Uganda and Tanzania "have experienced the irregular loss of land, undermining livelihoods and exacerbating land degradation," the coalition noted. "The mere presence of EACOP has caused disruption, fear, and uncertainty among local populations who rely on the land for their sustenance and cultural heritage."
"This pre-construction phase highlights the urgent need for Standard Bank to withdraw its support, as the project's continuation would only amplify these negative consequences, further jeopardizing the well-being of communities and the fragile ecosystem," #StopEACOP continued. "The bank needs to recognize the alarming implications of EACOP and take a responsible stance to protect both people and the environment."
At the shareholder meeting, meanwhile, Earthlife Africa director Makoma Lekalakala presented Standard Bank executives with a certificate of human rights violations on behalf of the communities already affected by EACOP.
\u201c@Earthlife_JHB @350Africa @StandardBankZA @xrebellionza have made their way into the building!\u201d— BankTrack (@BankTrack) 1686557460
"Standard Bank still doesn't get that financing EACOP poses huge risks, not just to the communities it is supposed to serve, but also to the bank itself," said Ryan Brightwell, director of communications and research at BankTrack. "This is why their co-advisers SMBC [Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation] have stepped away, and 25 other major banks have declared they won't touch the project. The bank protests outside the bank's annual meeting are getting larger yearly—they would be well advised to listen."
In addition to advising EACOP, Standard Bank has also provided $485 million in financing to Mozambique LNG in Cabo Delgado, a project led by TotalEnergies, and it has also so far refused to rule out funding Rovuma LNG, another fracked gas project in Mozambique.
"As a financier of TotalEnergies' $24 billion Mozambique LNG, Standard Bank is complicit in its devastation and fueling a war that has left thousands dead and a million displaced," said Anabela Lemos, director of environmental justice at Friends of the Earth Mozambique. "Entire communities in Cabo Delgado have been displaced and lost everything, a UNESCO Biosphere will be destroyed, and emissions just from the construction phase will irreversibly damage the climate. With the project still on pause, Standard Bank has the opportunity, and the responsibility, to stop enabling violence and pushing the country even deeper into a debt spiral by canceling its financing."
Diana Nabiruma of the Africa Institute for Energy Governance in Uganda rejected as "erroneous" Standard Bank's argument that its continued fossil fuel financing is meant "to promote economic development and address energy poverty."
"Available evidence indicates that frontline communities suffer economic setbacks due to losing their land and other economic assets, which aren't compensated adequately and fairly," said Nabiruma. "Oil-producing countries such as Nigeria also have the most number of people without access to electricity and most of the oil from Uganda and gas from Mozambique is meant for export."
In the words of Lekalakala from Earthlife Africa, "Standard Bank has to wake up to the reality that gas and oil are not and cannot be transitional fuels towards a low-carbon development."
That sentiment was echoed by 350Africa.org regional campaigner Charity Migwi, who said that "the financial institutions supporting the fossil fuel industry are fueling the climate crisis."
A recent report showed that since 2016, the year the Paris agreement took effect, the world's 60 largest private banks have provided $5.5 trillion in financing to the fossil fuel industry, flouting their pledges to put themselves and their clients on a path to "net-zero" greenhouse gas emissions as the window to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis rapidly closes.
"These institutions must reconsider their responsibility to the communities within the areas in which they work, which are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, experiencing extreme, crippling weather events," Migwi continued. "Rather than expose communities to the harmful effects of projects such as EACOP, we call on Standard Bank and other banks involved in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline to abandon the project and instead inject financing into safe, sustainable, community-centered renewable energy solutions to foster a just transition away from fossil fuels in Africa."
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