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“This would be contrary both to longstanding policy on ending taxpayer support for fossil fuel projects overseas and to the foreign secretary’s recent speech on the climate crisis,” he adds. “We also note with alarm the horrendous human rights abuses that continue to be linked with the project.”
Toru argues that previous judgments — which found in the U.K. government’s favor on the project and against Friends of the Earth — have now been “discredited” by more recent court rulings. Since then, Friends of the Earth has successfully challenged the British government over the development of new oil drilling and coal mining sites in the U.K.
Britain’s export finance body is “currently in talks with project sponsors and other lenders regarding the latest status of the LNG production project,” said a spokesperson for UK Export Finance, noting the project is in talks to restart. “We have received the letter from Friends of the Earth and will respond in due course.”
The Labour government “must immediately suspend” its funding, said Izzie McIntosh, a climate campaigner at NGO Global Justice Now. She called Liz Truss’ original 2020 decision to back the project “egregious” and argued that it “risked directly contributing to horrific human rights violations for the sake of propping up a toxic industry.”
Mozambique’s Defense Ministry on Sunday expressed “total openness and willingness to accept a transparent and impartial investigation” into allegations of military violence at the gas facility. But it refuted allegations its army was involved in acts of torture and violence, arguing that they were not corroborated by evidence.