The British environmental organisation Friends of the Earth announced on Wednesday that it will appeal against an unfavourable decision by the High Court in London to block Government funding for a natural gas extraction project in Mozambique.
The High Court had initially issued a split decision between the two judges, leaving the outcome uncertain, but today the organisation confirmed that the case will have to be decided by the Court of Appeal.
The lack of a consensus between the judges, it explained in a statement, “means that an appeal is now required to reach a definitive result” and has exceptionally been allowed to proceed to the Court of Appeal.
In the ruling published on Tuesday, Judge Justine Thornton found that the UK export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF) failed to comply with its obligation to calculate the impact of the project in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, which calls into question compliance with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
On the contrary, judge Jeremy Hugh Stuart-Smith found that there was “no legal or policy obligation to quantify emissions” and the project is in line with “Mozambique’s stated climate change policies”.
Friends of the Earth last year called for a judicial review into the Government’s funding of the Mozambique project, claiming it flouts London’s commitments to the Paris Agreement and targets to halt global warming.
The British government has provided up to $1.15 billion (€1.35 billion at the current exchange rate) through export credit agency UKEF to the ‘offshore’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Rovuma basin in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.
The environmental organisation estimates that the project will be responsible for releasing between 3.3 and 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the duration of the project.
Area 1 of the project is under concession to a consortium led by French oil company Total, which had to suspend construction work on the project due to attacks by armed groups in Cabo Delgado province.
Valued at between 20 and 25 billion euros, Total’s gas extraction megaproject is the largest private investment underway in Africa, supported by several international financial institutions and envisages the construction of industrial units and a new city between Palma and the Afungi peninsula.
Before construction was suspended, the first export of liquefied gas was scheduled for 2024.
