British court hears legal challenge against UK funding for Mozambique gas project

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British court hears legal challenge against UK funding for Mozambique gas project

11:11 CAT | 06 Dec 2022

File photo: DW

The British Court of Appeal was this Tuesday (06-12) scheduled to hear arguments from the British environmentalist organisation Friends of the Earth challenging UK funding for a natural gas extraction project in Mozambique.

At stake is the US$1.15 million pledged by the British export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF) to develop the offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Rovuma Basin in northern Mozambique.

Friends of the Earth argues that the funding has not been properly evaluated in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and that it runs counter to the UK’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

“UKEF not only helped finance the project, but it failed to measure all the emissions it would produce, misleading ministers about the scale of its impact. This is a complete failure of credible governance and morally unacceptable in a climate crisis,” said Friends of the Earth head of legal counsel Will Rundle in a statement.

Friends of the Earth has estimated that the facility would emit 4.5bn tonnes of greenhouse gases over its lifetime, more than the combined annual emissions of the 27 EU countries.

The organization says that the local population in Cabo Delgado has already begun to be affected, especially farmers and fishermen, and that more than a million people have been forced to flee in recent years due to terrorist attacks.

Rovuma Basin Area 1 is under concession to a consortium led by the French oil company TotalEnergies, which suspended project construction work in Cabo Delgado following attacks by armed groups.

Evaluated at between €20 and 25 billion, the TotalEnergies project is the largest private investment underway in Africa, and is supported by several international financial institutions. It foresees the construction of industrial units and a new city between Palma and the Afungi peninsula.

Before construction was suspended, the first export of liquefied gas was scheduled for 2024.

A first lawsuit by Friends of the Earth in the High Court of London ended in deadlock in March when two High Court judges disagreed on the verdict. An appeal request was them granted.

The judges’ split decision means the judicial review has not yet been concluded, and a court order is awaited with the final result.

The decision of the Court of Appeal is expected in only early 2023, Friends of the Earth having already said that it will appeal if the judicial review is refused.

Source: Lusa