Ugandan Activist to HSBC AGM: Stop Sacrificing Our Homes for Fossil Fuels
During HSBC’s AGM today, Patience Nabukalu, a Ugandan climate activist with Fridays for Future Uganda, supported by ActionAid UK, will hand-deliver an open letter from Global Majority youth activists to HSBC’s CEO, Georges Elhedery. Along with many other Ugandan activists, Patience has been campaigning against the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) – a major 1,443km pipeline that will transport crude oil from Lake Albert in Uganda for export from the Port of Tanga in Tanzania. HSBC is linked to the project, providing $1.78bn in finance to companies involved in the project.
She said: “Every year HSBC delays climate action, and every pound it pours into fossil fuels projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, my community loses a little more: another harvest, another home, another flood preventing children in Uganda from going to school. As HSBC meets for its AGM, millions of its customers in the UK have a choice: speak up, hold their bank to account, and help protect communities like mine from climate disaster.”
Zahra Hdidou, Senior Climate and Resilience Advisor at ActionAid UK, said: “HSBC’s recent climate backslide can’t be excused by global economic pressures. Whether in times of profit or crisis, the bank has blindly continued to pour billions into destructive industries, no matter the cost, especially to women and girls in the Global Majority.
As it heads into its AGM, it faces mounting pressure over its billions in financial support for fossil fuel projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. The ecological breakdown caused by these projects is wreaking havoc on entire communities, destroying livelihoods and costing lives, all while pushing the global economy to the brink.
HSBC cannot be trusted to act alone. The Government must step in and introduce regulation to stop UK banks from financing pollution immediately, not decades from now.”
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Notes to editor
Contact the ActionAid press office on uk.media@actionaid.org or on 07753 973 486.
Zahra Hdidou and Patience Nabukalu are available for interview on request, please contact the press office to arrange.