Key Points:
- Over 40 banks globally have ruled out finance for the controversial Uganda-Tanzania pipeline, including 28 European banks.
- Largest European banks not to have ruled out EACOP finance are Lloyds, UBS, Caixa Bank, Danske Bank, Sberbank and Commerzbank.
Last September, Uganda’s minister for hydrocarbons claimed that at least seven European banks have committed, in private, to finance TotalEnergies’ East African Crude Oil Pipeline project (EACOP) despite the extreme risk it poses to people and the environment. However, new engagement and policy analysis from BankTrack covering the 50 largest European banks shows a dwindling number of European banks candidates prepared to finance the project. In total, 28 banks headquartered in Europe have either publicly ruled out finance for the project, or have policies in place that would rule out finance for any new oil pipeline project. Globally, this total now stands at 42 banks.
While this sends a clear signal to the project sponsors that the project is beyond most banks’ risk appetite, a number of banks have not yet ruled out finance. The largest European banks that have so far not ruled out finance for the damaging project, in order of asset size, are: Lloyds (UK), UBS (Switzerland), Caixa Bank (Spain), Danske Bank (Denmark), Sberbank (Russia), Commerzbank (Germany) and SEB (Sweden).
Read the full press release from the StopEACOP campaign and BankTrack here.