People from across the globe are coming together to demand #MarshDropEACOP
In May 2022, an investigative news article revealed that Marsh, the world’s biggest insurance broker, is approaching insurers and trying to convince them to provide insurance coverage to build the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). EACOP would be the world’s longest heated oil pipeline, which Total Energies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) want to build through Uganda and Tanzania. As the insurance broker, Marsh will be in charge of approaching insurers and convincing them to underwrite EACOP.
Marsh was also the insurance broker for the climate wrecking and highly contested Adani Carmichael coal mine in Australia, but they recently walked away. Now they should walk away from EACOP, too.
Thousands of people from across the globe are coming together to demand that Marsh drop EACOP. The message is loud and clear, with waves of #MarshDropEACOP messages on social media from almost every continent. Join us and send an email to Marsh leadership asking them #MarshdropEACOP here via 350.org or here via Stop the Money Pipeline.
Why #StopEACOP?
The science is crystal clear. To prevent a complete climate breakdown, the International Energy Agency and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change state that we cannot build any new fossil fuel projects. Recent scientific research, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, warned that fossil fuel production sites need to shut down early to avoid climate chaos. In 2022, it is unconscionable to construct a new huge climate bomb like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline that poses huge risks to communities, nature, and the climate, and only profits fossil fuel companies like Total Energies
If built, EACOP would be the longest heated oil pipeline in the world and would release 34 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year at peak production – having a significant impact on the escalation of climate breakdown.
Nearly a third of the pipeline will run through the basin of Africa’s largest lake, Lake Victoria, that more than 40 million people depend on for water and food production. It will cross more than 200 rivers and run through thousands of farms. An oil leak or spill would have catastrophic consequences.
EACOP would allow Total to drill oil within Uganda’s oldest and largest national park and threaten one of the most ecologically diverse and wildlife-rich regions of the world. The nearly 1,445 kilometer pipeline would run through numerous important habitats and nature reserves – home to a number of iconic and endangered animals, such as lions, elands, lesser kudu, buffalo, impalas, hippos, giraffes, roan antelopes, sitatungas, sables, zebras, aardvarks, and the red colobus monkey.
EACOP and the oil extraction projects it will enable will cause considerable physical and economic displacement. Over 100,000 people across Uganda and Tanzania will lose the land they rely on for farming and animal raising, and many will be forcibly removed from their homes.
Already, before construction has even begun, communities have experienced serious human rights violations related to the project. Human rights defenders, local community leaders and environmental activists in Uganda and Tanzania courageous enough to speak out against the project have faced threats and intimidation, including unlawful arrest.
A project too risky to support
EACOP is becoming a toxic project to banks and insurance companies. Already, 20 banks, 8 insurers, and 4 export credit agencies have all denied support for EACOP. Many of them, like Munich Re, state that the project is not in line with their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments. Others have called EACOP “too hard to defend.”
EACOP is a reputation destroyer for any company associated with it. With more and more insurers turning their backs on EACOP, Total and CNOOC will need to explain to their shareholders and business partners how it will insure the risky pipeline.
Pressure building from all sides
Following the leadership of local communities in Uganda and Tanzania demanding climate justice, more than 260 groups from all over the world are joining efforts to stop this disastrous project.
In only a few days, over 16,000 people have signed a newly launched petition to Daniel Glaser, the CEO of Marsh’s parent company Marsh McLennan, asking him to stop brokering the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. And thousands have shared a photo on social media demanding #MarshDropEACOP.
This project is controversial within Marsh McLennan and Marsh’s sister companies Mercer and Oliver Wyman, both of which provide sustainability-related consulting services. Over 100 employees across Marsh McLennan and its subsidiaries wrote a letter to company leadership urging Marsh to stay away from EACOP.
The terrifying increase of extreme weather events and climate disasters are impacting the lives of billions of people across the globe and the very risk that insurers are responsible for underwriting. It’s now or never for insurance companies and insurance brokers to choose people over profit, immediately stop insuring new fossil fuels and phase out support for existing coal, oil and gas projects. Marsh should walk away from EACOP and stop brokering insurance for fossil fuel projects that are putting lives and our ecosystems at risk.
