The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) between Uganda and Tanzania has long been recognised as a project that will cause massive ecological and humanitarian harm in our countries
Now, a study by the multi-faith organisation GreenFaith has revealed a new dimension to Eacop’s misconduct in our region: disrespect for many of the more than 2,000 graves that are being displaced to make way for the 1,443-km long underground pipeline.
The investigation found that Total, the French oil and gas company leading the project, has caused damages while relocating graves.
It found they had revealed their indifferent disregard for the final resting places of the deceased members of our close families and extended community.
UK aid cuts leave Malawi vulnerable to droughts and cyclones
Often, the company showed a profound disrespect for the cultural and religious burial customs of the communities affected.
A prime example is the one of unmarked graves. These are common in rural East Africa, where some of our religious communities do not customarily mark graves while some
families lack the resources for grave markers.
However, this in no way diminishes the significance of the grave nor erases family memories of the graves’ locations.
Repeatedly, families informed Total or its subcontractors about the location of unmarked graves, urging them to respect the sites and relocate the graves. Their pleas were often ignored.
Offences against dignity
In one case, a Ugandan man was custodian for a site with 60 graves. As is customary there, the Muslim graves are low earthen mounds, while Christian graves are marked with brick or
concrete plinths.
Total refused to acknowledge the unmarked Muslim graves’ existence, despite the custodian pointing out the exact location of each and providing the name of every person buried there.
These offences against dignity would be one thing if it was hard for Total to verify the location of graves. But this is not the case. Corporations regularly use inexpensive, ground-penetrating
radar at infrastructure project sites.
Instead, Total is ignoring these graves and consciously risking desecrating graves during construction.
Another appalling finding was that families received inadequate compensation for the cost of grave relocation. Total underpaid for actual costs and, insultingly, supplied inferior quality
materials inconsistent with local standards.
Compensation has often come after years of delay, during which inflation rates made the original request vastly outdated.
“We bought cement, iron bars, tiles and paid for water when we mixed cement with sand,” said one Tanzanian man. “They have compensated us with a very low amount.”
Total posted a record profit of $36 billion in 2022 by digging into the Earth for oil and gas.
Yet when asked to provide adequate sums to relocate the earthen human remains of people whose descendants they have displaced, they have refused. This is obscene.
Spiritual harm
Families in our communities affected by this violation have suffered painful spiritual and psychological harm.
They feel guilty for allowing loved ones’ remains to be mistreated. They fear for their families and themselves because of the disrespect suffered by their forebears. Their spiritual, traditional, and cultural injuries are traumatic and real.
For centuries, global north countries have frequently devalued the graves in communities which they have colonised, disrupting them without concern as part of the process of cultural erasure.
In recent years, these practices have been more widely recognized as disgraceful. Yet Totals has perpetuated this neocolonial behavior.
The reasonable conclusion is that for Total, grave disruption is an inconsequential part of the construction process.
In other words, they do not care. That is why we are speaking out.
As religious leaders from Africa’s two largest religions, we condemn this inhumanity and are determined not to allow Total’s degrading mindset to stand.
We call on Total to relocate all unmarked graves, with ceremonial assistance.
Stop Eacop
We renew the call, sounded by a diverse coalition of organisations, for Total, the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments, and the project’s financial backers, to stop the Eacop project.
We call on people of diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds to speak out. The climate crisis is a challenge to our fundamental humanity.
We must uphold human decency and justice in the face of suffering due to a hotter climate, which is hitting those hardest who have contributed the least.
To protect our shared cultural, spiritual, and moral dignity, we must denounce the malfeasance of extractive industries and work together to consign behaviors such as Total’s to the past.
Sheikh Kugonza Ashiraf is a Muslim leader along the Eacop route in Uganda
Kamili Stephano is a Catholic who is affected by the Eacop project in Tanzania
In a statement, Total said that tombs are identified by the families or the owners and the locations indicated in the projects.
They added that they are compensated according to values agreed with the Chief Valuer and the grave’s owner can either move the grave themselves or ask Eacop to move it on his behalf. Eacop will cover the costs in either case, they said.
Total added that religious services and rituals take places at the location of the original grave and the new burial location, which is chosen by the grave owner.
The moving of the grave takes places at a time desired by the owners and in the presence of a “competent government authority” like a doctor, they said.
“In all cases, the moving of a grave is carried out in compliance with all different religions or spiritual beliefs,” Total added.
The post Total is disrespecting graves in East Africa as it pursues pipeline appeared first on Climate Home News.
Total is disrespecting graves in East Africa as it pursues pipeline
Climate Change
‘Self-serving tosh’: Woodside’s Browse gas would derail energy transition and wreck Scott Reef
SYDNEY, Monday 11 May 2026 — Greenpeace Australia Pacific has branded Woodside’s Browse gas report released to media today as being “so ludicrous it reads like satire” and a dangerous distraction from the urgent action needed to save Scott Reef and address soaring emissions.
The report states Woodside’s Browse offshore gas drilling project at Scott Reef would have no impact on Western Australia’s net zero targets, as the state was on track to miss them anyway.
Hannah Schuch, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Woodside’s report is so ludicrous it reads like satire. It is nothing but the self-serving tosh expected from a multinational gas corporation exploiting the global energy crisis to drill for more expensive, volatile and polluting gas to export for profit.
“Claiming a massive carbon bomb would somehow help the net zero transition is delusional. If Woodside’s reckless Browse gas project went ahead, it would be one of the most polluting projects in the country and turn one of Australia’s last pristine oceanic reef systems, Scott Reef, into an industrial gas zone.
“The WA EPA already made an initial finding that Woodside’s plan to drill at least 50 wells near Scott Reef, home to nesting sea turtles, endangered pygmy blue whales and other endangered species, posed unacceptable risks to the environment.
“Most recently, independent scientific experts demonstrated that Woodside’s amended plans do nothing for the survival of these key threatened species found at Scott Reef but just tinker around the edges. For Woodside to flaunt these plans as a win for net zero, is flabbergasting and frankly insulting.
“Woodside continuously fails to deliver gas to West Australians. According to the DomGas Alliance less than 4% of gas from Woodside’s Pluto facility has been supplied to the local market — far short of the 15% requirement.
“The global energy crisis has laid bare the dangers of fossil fuel dependence. WA has access to world-class renewable energy resources, which modelling shows could power the state’s homes, hospitals and key industries with clean, cheap and affordable energy. WA has a choice: displace gas with renewables, or displace renewables with gas.
“Environment Minister Murray Watt has a responsibility to protect the environment and put an end to this dangerous project once and for all. Minister Watt and the Albanese government’s environmental credentials ride on protecting Scott Reef from Woodside’s dirty gas for good.
“Greenpeace is calling for Murray Watt to listen to the half a million Australians that have asked him to stop this nature and climate-wrecking project and protect Scott Reef for generations to come.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Emma Sangalli on emma.sangalli@greenpeace.org or 0431 513 465
Kate O’Callaghan on kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org or 0406 231 892
‘Self-serving tosh’: Woodside’s Browse gas would derail energy transition and wreck Scott Reef
Climate Change
DeBriefed 15 April 2026: Trump-Xi talk energy | ‘Supercharged’ El Niño | India’s first ‘heat lounges’
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
US-China meet
ENERGY TALKS: Trump administration officials have raised the prospect of China buying more US oil in response to the disruption caused by the Iran war, following two days of talks between the leaders of the superpowers in Beijing, said Reuters. On Thursday, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the nations had discussed China “buying more US energy”, adding that production from Alaska would be a “natural” for China. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that Trump and Xi also agreed that the strait of Hormuz must remain open to “support the free flow of energy”.
CLIMATE ‘COOPERATION’: Ahead of the talks, the Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily published an article saying that addressing climate change requires “coordinated efforts and cooperation” between China and the US. State-run newspaper China Daily said that US-China cooperation on energy security and climate governance is “essential” because the two countries have “considerable influence over international institutions”. However, an article in Legal Planet said that the Trump-Xi meeting had no climate agenda, adding that the two countries are now moving in “radically different directions”.
El Niño extremes
‘SUPERCHARGED’: From wildfires to heatwaves and flooding, scientists have warned that the El Niño weather pattern could “amplify climate extremes” in 2026, reported Climate Home News. There is an 82% chance of a “very strong” El Niño forming this year, according to the average of four weather forecasters cited by the Times. The Independent added that the phenomenon could be “supercharged” by another weather pattern – a positive Indian Ocean Dipole – raising the risks of fire, drought risks and other extreme weather events.
WORLD ON FIRE: Global fire outbreaks hit a “record high” in Africa, Asia and elsewhere this year, reported Reuters, with conditions expected to worsen to the “highest in recent history” if a strong El Niño “kicks in”. More than 150m hectares of land were damaged by fires from January to April – 20% more than the previous record – according to data compiled by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group cited by the newswire.
Around the world
- ETHIOPIA EVS: Electric vehicles now account for 8% of Ethiopia’s car fleet as “soaring prices and fuel shortages compel” African countries to switch to “cleaner and cheaper transport”, according to the Associated Press.
- UK AID CUT: The UK has halved its most recent contribution to the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) as part of a government “shift from development aid to military spending”, according to Climate Home News. The UK is no longer the top donor to the GCF following the move, said Carbon Brief.
- TORT RETORT: Reuters reported that the New Zealand government plans to amend a key climate law, to prevent courts from holding private companies liable for climate harms. This would apply to “both current and future proceedings”, the newswire said, including a current case against six major emitters.
- RENEWABLE SECURITY: Military alliance NATO is “openly backing renewables and other non-fossil fuel sources of energy as key to the alliance’s security” despite US scepticism, reported Politico. The outlet covered a NATO-backed study that highlighted how imported fuels have been used as a “bargaining chip” in conflicts.
- NO INDIAN ‘LOCKDOWN’: India’s oil-and-gas minister “dismissed concerns of any imminent lockdown-like restrictions” after prime minister Narendra Modi “urged citizens” to adopt fuel-saving measures amid a global energy crisis, reported the Economic Times.
One billion barrels
The volume of oil the world has lost over the past two months since Iran began its blockade of the strait of Hormuz following attacks by the US and Israel, according to Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, quoted in Reuters.
Latest climate research
- Antarctic sea ice levels have plummeted to “record-low anomalies” since 2015, with researchers calling it “one of the largest present-day climatic shifts in the Earth system” | Science Advances
- Rainfall reductions in the southern Amazon will occur at progressively lower levels of deforestation as the planet warms, indicating that “climate change amplifies the sensitivity of rainfall to forest loss” | Global Ecology and Biogeography
- Economic inequality adds more than 100,000 deaths to the total toll from heat and cold in Europe | Nature Health
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
Contrary to claims by the UK car industry that demand is not high enough to meet the UK government’s sales targets for “zero emissions vehicles” (ZEVs), a new Carbon Brief factcheck found it has actually “overcomplied” with its mandate. The chart above shows the required (left) and achieved (right) share of ZEVs in total UK car sales in 2024, the latest figures available. “Flexibilities” (in light blue) include the sale of lower-emission petrol cars.
Spotlight
Chennai’s gig workers race against the heat
This week, Carbon Brief visits one of India’s first air-conditioned lounges designed to help gig workers deal with extreme heat.
On a single day in late April, 20 of the world’s hottest cities were all in India.
Chennai was not on the list this time, but is no stranger to high temperatures. In the south-eastern coastal capital of Tamil Nadu, extreme humidity and heat are inescapable facts of life.
“The heat is by no means manageable, but we have no choice but to deal with it,” said Mohammed S, a 29-year-old grocery platform delivery worker, speaking to Carbon Brief.
Last year, Chennai became India’s first ever city to roll out air-conditioned lounges for millions of gig workers, like Mohammed, navigating India’s increasingly hotter cities.
Lounge access
In the dense shopping district of T Nagar – recognised as an “urban heat island” – studded with silk sari and jewellery shops, an unassuming oblong container-like structure stands out.
Through the building’s tinted windows, workers wearing synthetic jerseys emblazoned with food delivery app logos are stretched out on wooden benches meant to seat 25 people.
The lounge has charging points for phones, a water cooler and a unisex toilet. It might not seem like much, but workers tell Carbon Brief that it has made a “huge difference” to their lives – even on a day when the air conditioner stopped working.
“Before this, life was very difficult,” said Mohammed. He continued:
“We would park our [electric] bikes and try to find a tree to sleep under, stop for tea and tea shop owners would tell us we couldn’t sit there for more than 10 minutes, try to rest in a building’s stairwell and be chased away, then try to find shade under a flyover. Now we can sit in the AC and avoid the worst of the heat.”
Dinesh, 27, said his day starts at dawn before the sun is up, picking up packages from companies in north Chennai – another critical heat hotspot.
For the next seven hours, there is no “off point” or breaks for Dinesh as apps rush deliveries.
Some of Chennai’s gig workers told Carbon Brief they try to avoid the worst of afternoon temperatures from noon to 3pm, but for many – especially migrant workers – sitting back in the lounge is not a choice they can afford. One of them explained:
“If you don’t have cash to cover your bills or have to send money back home, you head out into the heat for a 12-hour shift and hope for the best.”
Feeling ‘gear’
In Chennai, heat might be normalised, but it has its own vocabulary. Speaking to Carbon Brief, the city’s gig workers, auto rickshaw drivers and fish sellers used an all-encompassing term – “gear” – to describe their symptoms, including dizziness, exhaustion and nausea.
Last summer, researchers offered Delhi’s gig workers a Rs 200 (roughly £2) cash transfer on the first day of a heatwave, to provide them with a means to achieve “real-time” adaptation to heat risk. Workers who received a cash transfer reported fewer heat-related symptoms, according to the study.
Asked if they would accept similar incentives to stay home on 40C days, workers in the T Nagar lounge expressed disbelief. Dinesh – who also trains technicians on how to repair air conditioners to support his income – told Carbon Brief:
“They [the apps] offer us incentives to go out in the heat when there are fewer riders.”
Barring a few, none of the dozens of outdoor workers Carbon Brief spoke to had an air conditioner at home or in their hostels, making the lounge the only place they could cool down.
Watch, read, listen
THE BIG ‘LOSER’: Writing in Foreign Affairs, Princeton University’s Prof Benjamin Bardlow argued that Beijing “may emerge from the war in Iran as its winner – and Washington its ultimate loser”.
CARBON ‘KINGPIN’: A new podcast by Drilled followed Bruce Rastetter – a corn ethanol “kingpin-turned-carbon entrepreneur” from Iowa – now promoting biofuels and carbon-capture projects in Brazil.
OPEC ‘DRAMA KINGS’: An episode of the Polycrisis podcast, titled “Gulf drama kings”, dug into the UAE’s announcement that it was quitting oil producers’ cartel OPEC, asking whether this reflected “doom” for the group, geopolitical tensions, or “different beliefs” about the future of oil.
Coming up
- 17 May: Cape Verde election
- 17-22 May: 13th session of the World Urban Forum, Baku, Azerbaijan
- 20-21 May:Copenhagen climate ministerial
Pick of the jobs
- Greenpeace, communications and engagement co-head (climate) | Salary: £63,756-£67,644. Location: London
- Global Witness, deputy director of campaigns (one-year contract) | Salary: £75,886. Location: London
- Karolinska Institute, research assistant in climate attribution and health | Salary: Unknown. Location: Stockholm, Sweden
- Greenpeace South Asia, climate researcher | Salary: Unknown. Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 15 April 2026: Trump-Xi talk energy | ‘Supercharged’ El Niño | India’s first ‘heat lounges’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Climate Change
The Tennessee Valley Authority Produced a Booklet Downplaying Coal Ash Risks. Top Researchers Call it ‘Dishonest.’
TVA employees distributed the 35-page booklet at a public hearing about corrective action plans for coal ash ponds at the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Tennessee.
A 35-page booklet distributed in a public meeting by the Tennessee Valley Authority about coal ash is filled with “lies” and misleading information, according to coal ash researchers.
‘Self-serving tosh’: Woodside’s Browse gas would derail energy transition and wreck Scott Reef
DeBriefed 15 April 2026: Trump-Xi talk energy | ‘Supercharged’ El Niño | India’s first ‘heat lounges’
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