✋ Stop EACOP! At this very moment Big Oil company TotalEnergies is building the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Uganda and Tanzania.
🌍 This destructive pipeline will not only cause 34 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, but will also destroy nature and wildlife, threaten the water supply and livelihoods of
millions of people, and will see tens of thousands expelled from their land. That makes EACOP a colonial project: Total gets the profits, the people who live there the misery.
✊ Multiple times we took to the streets to demand that TotalEnergies stops the construction of this pipeline and repairs any damage already done. We also
demand that Total helps to guarantee the safety of climate activists in Uganda and Tanzania.
💚 We are organizing these actions in solidarity with activists from the Justice Movement Uganda, who are peacefully resisting EACOP in their country - and in doing so, are risking
their lives.
Fossil fuel projects like those of TotalEnergies continue to receive support from banks and investors worldwide, despite the immense harm they cause to the climate, nature, and communities. While many financial institutions still contribute to this destructive industry, some players – such as Van Lanschot Kempen – have publicly stated their intention to take a different path. In their own report, they write: "If progress fails to materialize, we step up our engagement and are ultimately prepared to end our investment. For example, Kempen strategies are no longer invested in the American company Exxon Mobil, which in recent years has refused to present credible climate plans, has ignored both individual and collective engagements, and has dismissed opposing votes." But fine words alone are not enough.
Van Lanschot Kempen, through its investments in TotalEnergies, is indirectly contributing to the financing of EACOP – and therefore complicit in the destruction of nature, the displacement of people, and the acceleration of climate change.
At the same time, the bank positions itself as one that takes sustainability seriously and makes responsible choices. This is the moment to live up to those promises and fully divest from these harmful investments.
To help them take that step, CCA has sent a letter and invited Van Lanschot Kempen for a dialogue. We hope they seize this opportunity to turn their words into action.
Read the letter here
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