Development finance institution, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has refuted allegations reported on by a news outlet stating that the bank plans to provide financial support to the East African crude oil pipeline project.

The article references a letter by a group of civil society organisations and climate change advocates asking the AfDB to withdraw from the project owing to its potential social and environmental damage.

In response, the AfDB reports that economic development programme, the New Partnership for Africa's Development’s Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (Nepad-IPPF) has not provided financing to any private sector company for upstream oil or gas pipeline projects in East Africa.

In addition, the AfDB states that no commitment was, therefore, made to any party to fund the East African crude oil pipeline project.

It states that the project is not included in the bank’s lending programme.

The AfDB also points out that it is strongly committed to renewable energies. “It is important to point out that the AfDB group has for more than a decade played a leading role in crafting policies and delivering investments that promote sustainable development practices on the continent, including climate adaptation and resilience,” the AfDB notes in a statement.

The statement also highlights that the AfDB is committed to facilitating the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient development in African countries across all its operational priority areas.

The AfDB’s commitments are articulated in the range of strategies, policies and action plans which are aligned to all its operations and are available to the public.

In 2019, about 36% of total financial approvals were directed to climate action, the AfDB reports, adding that it further commits to doubling its climate finance to $25-billion between 2020 and 2025.

Furthermore, the AfDB is joining forces with the other multilateral development banks to design a framework that ensures that all our investments align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

In this regard, the AfDB notes its prioritisation of investment in renewables and has not invested in any coal project in the past decade as it sees renewable energy “as the future”. Since the launch of the AfDB’s Strategy for the New Deal on Energy in 2016, up to 2019 renewable energy projects constitute about 85% on average of the AfDB’s power generation investments. The bank is working closely with African countries to realise their renewable energy potential and has developed dedicated programmes and instruments to achieve this goal.