- Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank has been petitioned not to finance the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which stands to be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world.
- The petition, which was handed over to Standard Bank staff yesterday , highlighted the climate impacts, large-scale displacement of communities, and grave risks to protected environments, water sources and wetlands linked to this project.
- The bank, through its Ugandan subsidiary Stanbic, and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) are set to be the lead financiers of this 1,443-kilometer pipeline that would traverse Uganda and Tanzania.
This is not the first time that Standard Bank has been requested to drop the pipeline. In June 2019, global and regional NGOs petitioned against the EACOP and the bank said it was reviewing the request to halt funding to the pipeline. However, available information indicates that the bank is set to ignore the adverse impacts of the project and the opposition of local communities and will proceed with raising a $3.5 billion loan for the project.
Other financial institutions have come out openly to reject financing of the EACOP. In April 2020, the African Development Bank (AfDB) released a press statement rejecting claims of financial support to the controversial pipeline.
Author: GBA News Desk
Source: 350.org
