Standard Bank has hired an independent environmental and social adviser to help assess its involvement in Total’s East African Crude Oil Pipeline that environmental groups have opposed, it said on Monday.
About 260 civil society organisations from around the world have urged the CEOs of 25 banks not to participate in loans to fund the construction of the $3.5bn East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline.
They have argued in an open letter that this pipeline would pose immense threats to local communities, water supplies and biodiversity in Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
Standard Bank acknowledged receipt of the letter, saying it was following its internal processes and had retained the services of an independent environmental and social adviser.
“As part of this process, the advisers will visit the project area and will issue a full environmental and social due diligence report, at which time Standard Bank Group will make a decision on the way forward,” it said in an e-mailed response.
A preliminary findings report from the adviser was under review, the bank said, adding that its new fossil fuels financing policy had set out stringent conditions for lending to fossil fuel projects.
“Among other conditions, project owners must commit to minimising or reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” it said.
French energy giant Total and its partner, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, plan to exploit oil reserves in Lake Albert in Uganda and construct a 1,443km pipeline to neighbouring Tanzania for export.
In February, Uganda said construction was expected to begin soon.
About two-thirds of the pipeline’s cost will be financed by debt, and a Ugandan unit of Standard Bank Group and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp are jointly helping to raise the funding.
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