Total Energies is pressing on with it’s $10 billion oil project, in Uganda’s lake Albertine Rift Basin despite rising criticism from climate activists and environmentalists concerned about the oil project's emissions profile and environmental impact.
Environmentalists argue that oil production will shift a large portion of the Uganda’s energy needs toward carbon-emitting fossil fuels making it more difficult for the country to adapt to and mitigate the effects of the climate change reality.
Jobi Rii-5 well pad construction site in Murchison Falls National Park ,Tilenga project area operated by Total Energies in Uganda’s Albertine Graben Region.
Total Energies has begun to invest in renewable energy sources such as solar power and undertaking several initiatives aimed at tackling climate change and lowering it’s carbon foot print but activists say the company must do more to fight climate change.
Last year, the company signed a solar project agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development for possible deployment of 120 MW of solar energy.This is part of the company’s commitment to develop 1GW of renewable energy in Uganda by 2030.
“The solar energy projects are part of Total Energies global multi-energy strategy and climate ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050,”says Philippe Groueix, the General Manager of Total Energies Uganda.
In addition to renewable energy initiatives, Groueix says that Total Energies is working with government to use its existing infrastructure in Uganda to assist in the implementation of e-mobility infrastructure. The company owns and operates over 200 petrol stations, which it intends to upgrade to include charging stations for electric motorcycles and cars.
A Resettlement house constructed by Total Energies installed with Solar panels in Ngwedo sub-county, Buliisa district
"We plan to not only produce oil, but also to become a key player in renewable energy in Uganda to address the twin challenges of energy poverty and lower emissions," Groueix said.
However, environmentalists remain concerned about the environmental impact of Total Energies oil projects and continue to advocate for their total abandonment in favour of renewable energy ,based on the Paris Agreement on climate, which aims for a 50 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
“These oil projects,will worsen the impacts of climate change that are already affecting poor people in Uganda and Africa, especially those depending on their lands to live.What is needed is gross reductions of emissions,” said Juliette Renaud senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth France.
Globally, there is growing recognition of the need to transition to more sustainable energy sources and reduce reliance on fossil fuels in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions and stay below 1.5 degrees celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.According to the UN, coal, oil, and gas are by far the most significant contributors to global climate change, accounting for more than 75% of world greenhouse gas emissions and almost 90% of total carbon dioxide emissions. The sun's heat is trapped as more greenhouse gas emissions from dirty fuels blanket the earth.
Total Energies operates the Tilenga and EACOP oil projects. Tilenga covers the remote districts of Buliisa, Hoima, Kikuube, and Nwoya near the Murchison Falls National Park. It consists of six oil fields and is expected to have 400 wells drilled in 31 locations. It will also house an industrial area, support camps, a central processing facility, and feeder pipelines.
The EACOP entails construction of a buried 1,443 km oil pipeline between the town of Kabaale in Uganda and the port of Tanga in Tanzania. The pipeline includes six pumping stations and a heat tracing system.
A map showing the EACOP route
The pipeline has the capacity of transporting 216,000bopd and is operated by the EACOP Ltd whose shareholders are Total Energies 62%, Uganda National Oil Company 15%, China’s CNOOC 8% and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation 15%.
A report released in October 2022,by the US-based Climate Accountability Institute CIA states that the EACOP will produce vast amounts of carbon dioxide that will result in 379m tonnes of climate-heating pollution over a period of 25 years, the project’s shelf-life.This is far greater than estimates in the EACOP's environmental impact assessment reports , which CIA notes that accounted for a mere 1.8 percent of the project's emissions and did not take into account downstream emissions such as transporting oil from the pipeline to global markets.The report further notes that in the years of peak oil flow, the associated emissions would be more than double those of Uganda and Tanzania in 2020.
A chart showing the full project emissions from construction to end use, 25-yr life source,Climate Accountability Institute
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“The scale of TotalEnergies’ crude oil extraction and transport through the EACOP pipeline can not be mitigated by the company’s initiative to develop renewable energy sources and plant trees,”said Rick Heede ,author of the report.
Last year ,the European Union’s Parliament passed a resolution urging the TotalEnergies and government of Uganda to abandon the EACOP project citing climate destruction and human rights concerns.President Yoweri Museveni responded to this resolution with a twitter post where he stated that Europe's failure to meet its climate goals should not be Africa's problem.
"We will not allow African progress to be the victim of Europe's failure to meet its own climate goals. It is morally bankrupt for Europeans to expect to take Africa's fossil fuels for their own energy production but refuse to countenance African use of those same fuels for theirs," he said
Total Energies has launched the Tilenga Biodiversity Program , an initiative aimed at protecting and conserving biodiversity in and around the Tilenga project area.Implementation of this program will include among others protection of 10,000 hectares of natural forest threatened with deforestation and restoration of 1,000 hectares of tropical forest.
“We are mindful of the sensitive context within which we are undertaking our activities. We have thus made a commitment to ensure that we implement action plans designed to produce net positive impact on biodiversity,”Groueix stated in a statement posted on the Total Energies website.
But activists are not persuaded.Some have formed a campaign called #STOPEACOP .They want government and TotalEnergies to halt oil projects in order to demonstrate its commitment to carbon reduction and energy transition.
“Most fossil projects have between 25-30 year life spans .Getting into this type of investment will definitely undermine any safer alternatives and will lock a country on dirty fuel for decades, and potentially leave them with stranded assets,”says Abiud Onyach the STOPEACOP Communications and Digital associate
Total energies also has an ongoing law suit filed in France , where a number of environmental organizations accuse the company of green washing "misleading consumers about its efforts to combat climate change."
“Total Energies says they will leave a "net positive impact on biodiversity" but it is part of their green washing. You cannot have a positive impact on biodiversity with oil wells in a natural protected area, and with a pipeline crossing many fragile ecosystems,” says Renaud.
World Bank figures indicate that only 3% of the world's CO2 emissions originate from Africa, the second-largest and second-most populous continent, which is home to around 20% of the world's population.Africa remains the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, although contributing the least to the climate crisis.
Uganda emits only 0.01% of the world's total carbon emissions, and its per-person emissions of CO2 are likewise quite low at 0.13 tonnes.However, analysts predict that once oil production begins, this will change.
“EACOP intends to implement a number of carbon footprint reduction strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of the pipeline, these include the complete electrification of pumping stations in Uganda, where grid electricity is primarily produced by hydroelectric plants, and a hybrid power generation solution in Tanzania that involves solar energy from five solar farms that will be installed along the pipeline, ” says Peter Muliisa, the Chief legal and Cooperate affairs for UNOC
Uganda’s GHG Emissions Profile
Climate change is a reality in Uganda.The dramatic reduction in the size of ice caps on the Rwenzori mountains and an increase in the frequency and duration of droughts have both been related to changing climate trends. In August 2022, flash flooding in Mbale district killed at least 29 people and displaced over 5,600 others.
According to the 2022 Uganda Nationally Determined Contributions report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Uganda’s GHG emissions have been on the rise from 53.4 MtCO2e in 2005 to 90.1 MtCO2e in 2015 .
The Land Use and Forestry sector accounts for majority of emissions with 59.5% of the total emissions.Agriculture is the second largest, contributing 26.9%, followed by the energy sector 10.7%and waste 2.3%. The energy sector, which includes transport, power generation, and oil and gas exploration and production, accounts for 10%, with the transportation sub-sector accounting for around 66% of energy sector emissions.
This story was produced with support from the Africa Centre for Media Excellence
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