Ending EACOP

 A new analysis released by a climate research firm,  the Climate Accountability Institute (CAI),  reveals environmental assessments used to gain approval for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Uganda and Tanzania failed to fully consider the massive amount of fossil fuel emissions that will result from the project.

Climate campaigners have opposed the project which has already displaced thousands of people and threatens the livelihoods of millions, however, the CAI looked at expected emissions from tanker transport from Port Tanga in Tanzania through the Suez Canal to Rotterdam (and return), refining of the waxy crude oil into petroleum products, and end-use consumption of the carbon fuels," and found that EACOP will be directly linked to 379 million tonnes of carbon emissions—more than 25 times the current annual emissions of Uganda and Tanzania. The earlier analysis that was accepted by the host governments detailed just 1.8% of the project's total emissions.

CAI's findings qualify EACOP as a "mid-sized carbon bomb," as Richard Heede, who leads the group's Carbon Majors project, described it. A carbon bomb is defined as an extraction project which has the capacity to emit at least one billion tonnes of carbon.

"It is time for TotalEnergies to abandon the monstrous EACOP that promises to worsen the climate crisis, waste billions of dollars that could be used for good, [and] bring mayhem to human settlements and wildlife along the pipeline's path," Heede explained.

The French oil company TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are behind the project, with Total planning to invest between $3.5 billion and $5 billion in the pipeline.

"EACOP is an ill-advised project whose impact on communities in Uganda and Tanzania, wildlife, and the planet will be devastating, as the project's lead Total Energies stand to gain," said Omar Elmawi, coordinator for the Stop EACOP campaign.

350Africa.org and the Stop EACOP coalition are preparing to release a new documentary film, EACOP: A Crude Reality, which features the stories of climate campaigners who are fighting against the project and some of the thousands of people who have been evicted or economically displaced because of the pipeline.

The stories within the film "are a testament to the impunity with which fossil fuel corporations such as Total Energies operate, as they realize huge profits at the expense of people and the environment," said Hilda Nakabuye, a climate campaigner in Uganda. "Harmful projects such as EACOP should have no place in the future of the continent," she added.

Data Reveals Major Africa Pipeline as Climate Killer (commondreams.org)