The new analysis, by the Climate Accountability Institute (CAI), found construction and operation of the East African crude oil pipeline (EACOP) contributed only 1.8% of the full emissions of the project when taking into account overseas transport, refining and burning of the 848m barrels of oil by end users. It considered the 25-year lifespan of the project and refining in Europe and China. In the years of peak oil flow, the associated emissions would be more than double those of Uganda and Tanzania in 2020. Omar Elmawi, coordinator of the Stop EACOP campaign, said: “EACOP and the associated oilfields in Uganda are a climate bomb that is being camouflaged us as an economic enabler to Uganda and Tanzania. It is for the benefit of people, nature and climate to stop this project.” A number of financial institutions, including previous backers of TotalEnergies, have said they would not finance EACOP. These include 24 banks and 18 insurance companies. Some African countries argue they have the right to use fossil fuels to grow their economies, as rich western nations have done. In September, EU lawmakers called for EACOP to be stopped, prompting Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, to respond: “They are insufferable, so shallow, so egocentric, so wrong.”
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN