The StopEACOP coalition has expressed concern over the issuance of a €1.5 billion bond for TotalEnergies by banks that had publicly distanced themselves from the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The EACOP project has faced significant delays due to public pressure from coalition supporters and members who have highlighted the risks the project poses to financial institutions. According to StopEACOP, all the banks that have participated in the issuance of the bond are among the more than 40 global banks that refused to finance the controversial project.

Société Générale publicly distanced itself from EACOP in 2021 while HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, J.P. Morgan, and Mizuho made the announcement in 2022. BBVA made the announcement late last year (2025). Consequently, TotalEnergies and other project backers have struggled to raise funds and have been forced to look internally, as reported in the latest risk brief from BankTrack. The new €1.5 billion bond, therefore, provides them with internal funds to complete the project. “These banks want the PR benefit of saying that they won’t finance EACOP while quietly keeping TotalEnergies liquid through bond purchases. That’s effectively back-door pipeline funding dressed up in sustainability language. Finance capital is doing what it always does by protecting returns first, then hiring glossy reports to wash the oil and blood from the balance sheet,” said StopEACOP Campaign Coordinator, Zaki Mamdoo. He added that bonds are the most straightforward way for TotalEnergies to self-finance the project because they come with no strings attached and can be diverted to any projects that banks would not publicly support or associate with, including EACOP or the other highly controversial Mozambique LNG project, for which TotalEnergies is facing allegations of complicity in war crimes, torture, and enforced disappearances.

“The coalition cannot understand how these banks justify their involvement in issuing these bonds to TotalEnergies when they are aware that these funds could be diverted to projects they have publicly stated they do not support, citing reasons ranging from ‘extreme risks to communities’ along the pipeline route to ‘unacceptable risks’ to critical natural habitats, with a specific focus on human rights and climate impact?” Mamdoo stated… StopEACOP added: “As TotalEnergies, CNOOC, and host governments discuss plans for first oil by July 2026 – though this target is unlikely to be met – the impacts of the EACOP project are no longer hypothetical. Cases of human rights violations continue unabated. At the beginning of last year (2025), we witnessed the weaponisation of the Ugandan judiciary to suppress opposition to the project, as activists were denied bail and kept in jail for months. “This began with the 11 activists arrested for protesting KCB Bank Uganda’s involvement in EACOP, who spent three months in jail, and now eight other activists associated with a student climate movement are still in jail for nearly seven months after protesting Stanbic Bank Uganda’s involvement in the EACOP project…