LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE
We are fighting for justice for communities in Mozambique, and to stop the impunity of the gas industry. When those who are perpetrating the injustices ignore or disregard our communications, letters, demands, meetings and many other ways we raise our demands, we sometimes use more formal means of changing the situation, like through the courts, parliament and congress, official complaint mechanisms, and the United Nations and European Union mechanisms. Here are some of our recent activities.
LEGAL ACTION
Judicial review of UK government financing and judgement
In September 2020 Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FoE EWNI) legally challenged the UK Government’s decision to provide around $1 billion of UK taxpayer support for the Mozambique LNG project.
The financial decision amounted to one of the largest single financing packages for a fossil fuel project ever offered by the UK export credit agency: UK Export Finance (UKEF). The Prime Minister was reportedly “bounced” into it (The Times, 27 July 2020) despite controversy around the nature of the project at a time of climate crisis, and the facts surrounding the decision were shrouded in secrecy. Friends of the Earth believes the decision was illegal.
In April 2021, FoE EWNI was given permission to go to court to challenge the UK government’s controversial decision to provide huge financial support to Mozambique LNG.
The Judicial Review examined the decision of UK Export Finance (UKEF), approved by both the Secretary of State for International Trade and the Treasury, over its compliance with the Paris Agreement on climate change. UKEF is the UK’s export credit agency.
The hearing took place on 7-9 December 2021.
The judgement was handed down in March 2022 and is extraordinary. Two judges were totally split on deciding whether the UK government’s financing of Mozambique gas is illegal. This is huge news for several reasons, but mainly because it is the first time that a UK High Court judge has found government fossil fuel funding totally unlawful and not aligned with the Paris Agreement, to which the UK government is a signatory.
The split decision means the judicial review has not yet succeeded, but the court has granted FoE EWNI an appeal to be held in the next few months.
To read the full transcripts:
To read the full judgement:
To read more about the judgement see here:
https://ja4change.org/2022/03/19/ukef-court-decision/
To read more about the case and how the gas industry is affecting Mozambique see here:
https://ja4change.org/2021/12/06/challenging-the-uk-government-in-court-stop-financing-gas-in-mozambique/
For the press release about the hearing see here:
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/friends-earth-given-permission-take-uk-government-court-over-mozambique-gas-mega-project
For the full litigation briefing on the reasons for the legal application see here:
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/system-change/climate-litigation-briefing-friends-earth-vs-uk-export-finance
UK COURT CASE ARTICLES
Climate change: UK’s $1bn support for Mozambique gas project assessed pollution against 2°C warming – not 1.5°C
Friends of the Earth sues Britain over Mozambique LNG project
Climate change: Boris Johnson sent letter urging him to withdraw £867m funding for Mozambique fossil fuel project
Government taken to court over financing of controversial Mozambique gas project
Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/mozambique-gas-project-high-court-b1970865.html
PARLIAMENT AND CONGRESS
We approach parliamentarians and congresspeople to ask questions in parliaments in our different countries in which the corporations or banks in the industry are based, or where the states themselves are industry players.
COMPLAINTS
In 2021, we attempted to lay complaints with the official complaints and accountability mechanism of a few state financiers – the United States Export-Import Bank, the US Development Finance Corporation and the Japan Bank for International cooperation.
UNITED NATIONS, EUROPEAN UNION AND MULTILATERAL INSTITUTIONS
So far, some of our letters to international institutions have included ones to the UN Human Rights Council, on questions to be asked the committee to states involved in the gas industry, and pensions funds investing in fossil fuels, as well as to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders regarding the disappearances of journalists reporting on the gas industry and activists in Cabo Delgado.