BankTrack and campaigning partners of the “Say No to Gas! In Mozambique” coalition share the serious concerns expressed by UN-appointed human rights experts regarding the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) $150 million loan to support the Coral North Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project (1). They demand that all financial institutions - including commercial banks such as Standard Chartered, Rand Merchant Bank, Nedbank and Absa Bank (2) - respond to the call of these experts, by committing to not support the gas expansion in northern Mozambique and suspending finance for new fossil fuel projects. 

The project, led by Italian company Eni, consists of a floating platform designed for gas extraction and liquefaction off the coast of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province. It is effectively a replica of Eni’s Coral South FLNG, which has been operational and exporting liquefied gas since November 2022. For the past eight years, the region has been the scene of violent conflict between the Mozambican army and insurgent groups. 

In the UN statement (1), the human rights experts state that the Coral North project “risks exacerbating human rights violations, contributing to climate change and diverting already scarce public funds away from urgent investments in renewable energy”. They also warned that it could compound existing tensions and human rights challenges caused by the gas sector in Cabo Delgado province.

Three other gas extraction and processing projects in northern Mozambique are on the radar – TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG, Rovuma LNG led by ExxonMobil and Eni, and Coral South FLNG led by Eni. According to the human rights experts: “Previous LNG projects in Cabo Delgado have suffered from inadequate consultation, which has undermined local participation in key project decisions and resulted in loss of livelihoods and long-term socioeconomic disruption for communities who depend heavily on fishing, agriculture and natural resources. Despite promises of employment creation, high illiteracy rates and limited access to education mean that local communities have reportedly benefited little from job opportunities generated to date”. They highlight that this has occurred in a region where armed conflict and climate change have already caused large-scale displacement.

Previously, experts have warned that the Coral North FLNG project could have a significant climate impact, with excessive greenhouse gas emissions, an issue that was highlighted as early as March 2025. ReCommon’s investigation ‘Hidden Flames’, examined the climate impacts of the Coral South FLNG plant, with a particular focus on gas flaring and associated emissions – both of which were underestimated by Eni (3). 

In correspondence with the AfDB, members of the StopMozGas coalition were assured that the Coral North FLNG project has “integrated strong environmental and climate measures, including flaring minimisation and emissions management, positioning Coral North among the cleaner LNG projects.” However, flaring is not an uncommon concern at LNG plants, with a recent investigation by Data Desk showing that LNG terminals tend to flare for significantly longer than the industry claims once they start producing, and that flaring remains persistent for decades at many facilities (4). 

The UN human rights experts state: “We are deeply concerned that a leading multilateral development bank would finance a project of this nature at a time when the harmful environmental and climate consequences of fossil fuel expansion are well understood…. Financial institutions and businesses have a responsibility, under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, to identify, prevent, mitigate, and remedy human rights impacts linked to their activities and business relationships.”

Their warning explicitly refers to Coral North FLNG and is addressed to the AfDB, but the audience it addresses between the lines is much broader. TotalEnergies is involved in two criminal proceedings in France: the first for involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger (5), the second for complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance (6). The site on which the French multinational’s Mozambique LNG project is due to be built is shared with ExxonMobil and Eni’s Rovuma LNG. These factors – relating to Coral North FLNG and other fossil fuel projects in the area – must not be overlooked by the international financial backers of the infrastructure, both confirmed and potential.

According to the UN statement, the African Development Bank’s decision appears to be at odds with its 2021–2030 Strategy on Climate Change and Green Growth, with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change, and with the imperative, enshrined in international human rights law, to decarbonise economies over the course of this decade. The experts are urging the bank to suspend all financing for fossil fuel projects. 

“The costs of the gas to Mozambique are mounting, the promised revenues are sinking further, and local people and businesses are cut off from opportunities, in the process of exploiting fossil reserves that will contribute little to Mozambique’s energy security. The African Development Bank - along with all financial institutions that remain involved - must reconsider its involvement in both Coral North FLNG and Mozambique LNG,” says Anabela Lemos, Director at Justiça Ambiental, Maputo. 

“The statement from UN human rights experts is crystal clear: it acknowledges that the majors that have taken control over Mozambique’s gas reserves are responsible for a disastrous track record of human rights violations. This reality is starkly documented with regard to Total’s activities in Cabo Delgado and its Mozambique LNG project. Once these facts are established, the course of action is equally clear to these experts: financial institutions are subject to obligations, and must refuse to support fossil fuel projects in Mozambique and around the world. This obviously applies to the French banks Crédit Agricole and Société Générale, which stubbornly continue to finance Total in a gas project that has already claimed far too many victims,” says Lorette Philippot, Private Finance Campaigner at Friends of the Earth France. 

“Even UN human rights experts have come out against new gas projects in Mozambique, citing a long list of human rights issues. TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project is a prime example of the challenges such endeavors face. Siemens Energy should heed the UN experts’ advice and call off its plans to supply gas turbines for this disastrous project,” says Sonja Meister, Energy Campaigner at Urgewald.

“Gas expansion in Mozambique is violating human rights, destroying pristine nature and contributing to climate chaos in one of the countries most vulnerable to climate catastrophes, as the recent and still ongoing massive floods show - with hundreds of thousands of affected individuals and widespread displacements. Commercial banks, like Standard Chartered, Rand Merchant Bank, Nedbank and Absa Bank, have a duty to stop finance to all of Mozambique’s gas expansion, or face the increased risks of committing finance to ever more well-documented harmful business practices,” says Diogo Silva, Banks and Climate campaign lead at BankTrack.

“SACE and Cassa Depositi Prestiti have decided to confirm their financial support for Mozambique LNG despite the serious human rights violations associated with the project. UBI Banca, now controlled by Intesa Sanpaolo, financed Coral South FLNG. All these financial institutions are vying to support both Coral North FLNG and Rovuma LNG with public and private capital. We call on them to heed the warning from UN experts and not to provide financial support for these projects. Projects which, in the domestic context, would exacerbate Italy’s dependence on fossil fuels – a short-sighted choice given the energy and economic repercussions resulting from the recent closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” says Simone Ogno, campaigner at ReCommon.

Notes
(1) Mozambique: UN experts concerned by African Development Bank funding for floating LNG project | OHCHR 

(2) All of these banks have previously commited finance to Mozambique LNG; Standard Chartered is also a financial adviser to Rovuma LNG.

(3) ENI non ha rivelato la reale portata delle emissioni di gas climalteranti in Mozambico, lo rivela il nuovo rapporto di ReCommon “Fiamme Nascoste”; Hidden flames: flaring at Coral South FLNG - StopMozGas 

(4) Revealed: the hidden climate impact of LNG  

(5) French prosecutors launch manslaughter probe against TotalEnergies over Mozambique attack 

(6) TotalEnergies faces criminal complaint for complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance in Mozambique