Mozambique: London court considers block on British LNG investment in Rovuma basin

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Mozambique: London court considers block on British LNG investment in Rovuma basin

5:08 CAT | 07 Dec 2021

File photo: DW

A court case to block the British Government’s funding of a mega natural gas exploration project in Mozambique begins hearing in London on Tuesday, launched by an environmental organisation.

Friends of the Earth has called for a “Judicial Review” in the High Court of the British Government’s decision to provide up to $1.15 billion (€1.35 billion at current exchange rates) through the export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF).

The organisation argues that the decision was made without due consideration of the environmental impacts of the project, which it estimates will be responsible for releasing up to 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over several years, which flouts Paris Agreement commitments to curb global warming.

Although the UK government announced in March the end of funding for overseas fossil fuel exploration, it maintained support for the ‘offshore’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Rovuma basin in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.

Area 1 is under concession to a consortium led by French oil company Total, which had to suspend construction work on the project due to attacks by armed groups in Cabo Delgado province.

Valued at between 20 and 25 billion euros, Total’s gas extraction megaproject is the largest private investment underway in Africa, backed by several international financial institutions and envisages 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.

In a document published in August, UKEF admitted that the construction will produce carbon dioxide emissions but considers that most of the emissions will happen at the end consumer, and stresses that natural gas has the potential to replace other more polluting fuels.

“The potential for Project gas to remove or replace heavier and lower carbon fuels has been considered (…). It is considered that, over its operational life, the Project will result in at least some displacement of more polluting fuels, with the consequence of some net reduction in emissions,” it reasons.

Without wishing to comment on the particular court case, a spokesperson told Lusa that UKEF is confident that “robust and internationally recognised due diligence is carried out before providing any support to overseas projects”.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Rachel Kennerley calls this a “dirty investment” and urges the UK to “recognise the historic contribution to the crisis we are now in by helping frontline countries like Mozambique make that important transition to renewable energy”.

“By ending support for all fossil fuels, including gas, the Government may be known for something other than climate hypocrisy,” it said in a statement.

As well as highlighting Mozambique’s vulnerability to the impact of climate change, the organisation said that the discovery of natural gas in the Cabo Delgado region has also resulted in “conflicts, human rights violations and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their homes, livelihoods and communities”.

The lawsuit is supported by Mozambican environmentalists from the organisation Justiça Ambiental (also known as Friends of the Earth Mozambique).

“If the courts allow UKEF to fund Mozambique’s gas industry, then the country will be complicit in human rights violations, displacement of communities, climate destruction and the fomenting of a devastating conflict,” warned the director, Anabela Lemos.

The judicial review process will take three days, with the decision only due weeks later.

Source: Lusa