TAP's shortcomings in the pre-construction phase and now the construction phase are being resisted by a variety of communities, groups and local authorities. In Albania uncertainty and confusion has been created for many people whose lives, land and livelihoods are being jeopardised. Villages along the TAP route are dotted with scores of olive trees, orchards, pastures and fields providing subsistence for local inhabitants. Two fact-finding missions carried out in 2016 by NGOs (July: 32 villages visited; August: 30+ villages visited) identified extensive community discontent concerning involuntary resettlement, compensation for loss of land and property, damage to property and the engagement methods being used by TAP’s Albanian contractor ABKons.

In Greece, as the pipeline routing is planned to cross highly fertile agricultural land in the north-east, farmers' groups have borne the brunt of what they say have been inappropriate consultation methods deployed by TAP, with instances of threats and malfeasance connected with land acquisition dating back to 2015 and still ongoing. Approximately 200 farmers are unwilling to settle terms with the company, and stand-offs between the company and farmers have resulted in police interventions, with farmers confronting TAP workers who have arrived on their land without permits or consent.

In Italy, around two hundred families, local fisheries and a burgeoning local tourism sector are directly affected by the project proposal. Trust between TAP AG and much of the affected community in Melendugno, as well as other stakeholders (i.e., local and regional authorities), has broken down – the company's efforts to start construction for the final leg of the project in Italy are currently stalled owing to local opposition and ongoing court cases.

The European Investment Bank (EIB), a potential financier of TAP, is conducting due diligence.  Reflecting the level of public grievance over TAP, the EIB has already received 13 complaints about TAP from members of the public and groups in the three transit countries.

Individual environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) were prepared for each of the three TAP transit countries. In Albania, the ESIA was approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Water Administration in April 2013, followed by official granting of the Environmental Permit.

In Greece, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change formally approved the TAP ESIA in September 2014, though legal challenges (ongoing) to the approval have been lodged at Greece's Supreme Court. At issue is the routing of the pipeline section Kavala-Serres-Thessaloniki, 113 kilometres in length, which would disrupt fertile agricultural land and present threats to various villages, and the location of a compressor station close to a number of villages and settlements. Major concerns relate to the pipeline's integrity in the acutely flood-prone region of Tenagi in Kavala, and TAP AG's unwillingness to consider suggested alternative locations for its compressor station in the seismic Serres plain.

In Italy, the ESIA approval process has been – and remains – highly contested. In September 2014, Italy's Environment ministry approved the TAP ESIA, yet in so doing also attached 58 mandatory provisions for TAP to fulfil before the beginning of the project's construction. TAP AG is understood to have so far provided documentation which allows it to fulfil only three of these mandatory provisions and – alarmingly – is said to be seeking final authorisation to proceed with construction on the basis of fulfilling the missing provisions only during its implementation of the project. The company's plans to transplant sensitive olive trees continue to be disputed and TAP opponents contend that the mitigation of environmental impacts from drilling work (offshore and onshore) remains uncertain owing to missing assessments on impacts to the seabed and independent studies on species impact.