Hi John,
Right now, we have a chance to stop the UK paying out nearly £1 billion that Liz Truss promised to a potentially climate-wrecking gas project in Mozambique.
French fossil fuel giant TotalEnergies is behind the project – but it’s a human rights and climate disaster. The UK’s promised funding hasn’t been accessed yet; we could score a major win against Total and fossil fuels globally by getting it cancelled now.
Can you write to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and ask him not to release these funds?
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Promising funding to this liquid natural gas project, Mozambique LNG, has always been an outrage.
It promised major greenhouse gas emissions and held significant risks due to unrest in the area that was already building in 2020, when it was approved by Liz Truss, despite disagreement from Cabinet colleagues.(1) It is predicted that Mozambique LNG will emit more than the total emissions of the European Union every year.(2)
But the UK’s funds were never dispersed after the project was put on hold in 2021. It followed allegations of appalling human rights abuses – including mass killings, torture and sexual violence – by security forces reportedly paid by Total.(3)
Survivors of the attack and several victims’ families have now filed a complaint against Total in the French courts, stating that it failed to inform subcontractors of the risks of possible attacks or of the progress of such attacks, and did not have proper safety or evacuation plans in place.(4)
Yet after conducting its own investigation, Total is now trying to revive the project, claiming the security situation has improved. Earlier this year we joined more than 100 Mozambican and international civil society organisations in calling on all funders, including the UK government, to back an independent international investigation into the allegations.(5)
And last month the French government took the extraordinary step of announcing a formal judicial investigation – amid the involvement of one of its biggest corporations.(6)
As Anabela Lemos of Justiça Ambiental!/Friends of the Earth Mozambique says: “This project carries an extensive spectrum of risks – specifically around human rights violations. Neither the Mozambican government nor TotalEnergies can be entrusted to solely conduct credible and objective investigations into alleged violations that they may have links to. Financiers – out of morality and justice – must re-examine not only their support to this project but also their commitment to human rights.”
The UK could take a decision about its £1 billion commitment at any time. The government has a chance to act for the good of communities in the UK and Mozambique. It needs to hear that we are aware of the decision it faces, and that we won’t stand for the UK funding climate breakdown, or public money being associated with egregious human rights abuses.
Can you write to the Business and Trade Secretary and ask him to cancel the UK’s funding for Mozambique LNG, once and for all?
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Thank you,
Izzie McIntosh
Climate campaigner at Global Justice Now
Notes
1. Revealed: Liz Truss lobbied for UK role in project now linked to Mozambique massacre, Politico, 9 October 2024
2. Tip of the iceberg: The future of fossil fuel extraction, Friends of the Earth, October 2021
3. ‘All must be beheaded’: Revelations of atrocities at French energy giant’s African stronghold, Politico, 29 October 2024
4. France launches manslaughter probe into TotalEnergies over 2021 Mozambique massacre, France24, 15 March 2025
5. Financial institutions don’t take a stance on human rights violations linked to LNG project in Mozambique, Friends of the Earth Europe, 22 January 2025
6. An Unprecedented Court Action. Oil Change Response to the Judicial Investigation into TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG Project, 15 March 2025
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