The StopEACOP Coalition has condemned the financial institutions that have chosen to bankroll the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), as announced by the EACOP Ltd. company on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
According to the Coalition, the announcement marks a desperate attempt by the EACOP company to inspire investor confidence.
“The announcement, which does not disclose the loan amount committed by the five banks, cannot conceal the project’s failure to reach full financial close after more than seven years of delay,” the StopEACOP Coalition disclosed in a statement endorsed by Zaki Mamdoo, StopEACOP Campaign Coordinator, and made available to EnviroNews on Thursday, March 27.
Several of the lenders have reportedly made previous public announcements of their intention to finance EACOP. Reported commitments from Afreximbank and the Islamic Development Bank date back to 2022, following which both institutions faced intense backlash from Ugandan and Tanzanian civil society. Standard Bank, similarly, has for years been the subject of unyielding opposition for its reported involvement.
“Nonetheless, with this new confirmation, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Standard Bank of South Africa, Stanbic Bank Uganda, KCB Bank Uganda, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) have marked themselves as enablers of climate chaos, environmental destruction, and the continued exploitation of Uganda and Tanzania’s natural resources for the benefit of international profiteers at the expense of local communities,” said the group, adding:
“At a time when the world is experiencing the ever-escalating impacts of climate change, this decision to fund a massive fossil fuel infrastructure project is not just irresponsible – it is an active assault on our planet and our people. EACOP promises only to deepen the crisis of climate collapse, exacerbating droughts, floods, and extreme weather events that disproportionately affect African communities, who have contributed least to the climate crisis but suffer its worst impacts.
“Furthermore, the so-called promises of development made by EACOP and its backers are nothing more than corporate propaganda. The reality is starkly different: tens of thousands of people have already been displaced to make way for the pipeline, facing loss of livelihoods, inadequate compensation, and worsening socio-economic conditions.
“The project prioritises the extraction of Uganda’s oil (alongside potential exploitation of reserves in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan) not for the benefit of the people, but for refining and consumption abroad and for the profit of TotalEnergies and its partners, while local communities bear the social and environmental costs.
“We echo the strong opposition voiced by Ugandan, Tanzanian, and DR Congolese civil society organisations and call on all other financiers to refuse to fund this reckless venture. Those who have already provided financing have shown which side of history they stand on: the side of destruction, exploitation, and corporate greed. They have chosen to be enemies of the people of Uganda, Tanzania, the East African region, the African continent, and indeed, all of humanity.
“The EACOP is a project that has long been shunned by major financiers the world over. To date, 43 banks and 29 (re)insurers have already ruled out support for EACOP. Even major investors in TotalEnergies are trying hard to get the fossil fuel giant to drop the EACOP project. Nordea for example, one of the largest Nordic banks, and among the 60 largest private banks in the world with investments in Total, recently shared that, in addition to banning project finance, they are not purchasing any new shares or bonds in Total because of its EACOP project. Further, they are evaluating additional measures to influence Total, with the next potential step being a full exclusion of the company from the remaining third of their portfolios.
“Notably, the few entities now involved in the project’s partial funding- particularly the smaller ones- are neither capable of financing the entire project nor do they provide the legitimacy EACOP seeks. While we remain deeply concerned about their confirmed role as project financiers, we trust that the world’s financial institutions will still recognise this project for what it truly is- an environmental and human rights catastrophe in the making.
“As the fight against EACOP continues, with impacted communities and ordinary people across the globe refusing to bow to those who seek to profit from our demise, we call on other potential lenders who have not already distanced themselves from this anti-developmental project to do so publicly – ensuring that our communities are protected, and the sustainability of our planet is upheld.”