France slammed over Mozambican ‘climate bomb’

The Friends of the Earth (FOE) NGO today accused France of planting a ‘ticking climate bomb’ in Mozambique, where French oil giant Total is developing a mega-project to exploit natural gas. ‘For several years now, the entire arsenal of French economic diplomacy has been working to defend French interests in Mozambique,’ it said, fingering a myriad of French companies in the fossil fuel industry and adjacent sectors. The report, titled 'A windfall for the industry, a curse for the country: France thrusts Mozambique into the gas trap', said $60bn would be invested in vast underwater reserves that were discovered off the country's northern coast in the early 2010s. A report on the News24 site notes that the discovery could transform one of the poorest countries on the planet into a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas. However, FOE said ‘French machinations are forcing yet another African country into dependency on fossil fuels ... in the name of the economic interests of French energy industrials and bankers’.