Urgent letter to Dutch investors in Ugandan oil pipeline
TotalEnergies and the Chinese National Offshore Oil Cooperation (CNOOC) are currently developing an oil extraction and transportation project in Uganda: East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The project – the construction of a heated pipeline (EACOP) of no less than 1445 kilometers through Uganda and Tanzania to export crude oil, is increasingly causing human rights violations and environmental damage. This is a matter of great concern to civil society organisations in Uganda and beyond. This week, Both ENDS, together with partner organisations in Uganda, sent an urgent letter to twelve pension funds and asset managers with investments in TotalEnergies and CNOOC.
In the letter we call upon investors to avoid direct and indirect financing of the project, and to confront TotalEnergies and CNOOC with the consequences of the project for the local population and nature in the vast area where the pipeline is to be located. The developers of the project seem to have learned nothing from the mistakes made in oil extraction and transport in the Niger Delta, which had disastrous consequences for local people and the environment.
Net Zero = zero oil and gas
Moreover, the tragic truth for the local communities that will be affected by EACOP is that the project should not be developed at all in the light of the climate crisis. TotalEnergies and CNOOC violate the criteria so clearly laid out by the International Energy Agency (IEA): in order to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050, no new investments can be made in oil and gas.
Dialogue
The letter, together with an update of the distressing situation in the project area for many local people, was sent to, among others, pension funds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), PGGM, BPL, and ABP/APG. The primary aim of the letter is to stimulate the dialogue between investors here and the involved civil society and other stakeholders in Uganda, so that investors get a better picture of the local context and make their investment decisions based on that.
Update March 1st 2022:
Today, we received the bad news that last Saturday, at 2:30am, gunmen raided the office of Community Transformation Foundation Network-COTFONE, an organisation supporting project affected peoples in Uganda. They broke the locks of the office and of the home of one of the members of the organisation, and took four laptop computers, two tablets, a cellphone handset and very sensitive information - including testimonies of local people to be used in court cases. Luckily no one was harmed in the raids.
Here is a link to a news article about the raid (February 28th)
More information:
The update (February 2022)
The statement (February 2022)
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