[ For background report see www.boell.de/downloads/Eni_congo_G8__final_.pdf ]

PRESS RELEASE 3 July 2009

Tar sands in Congo Basin poses huge risks for one of world's poorest countries
and will worsen runaway climate change

On the eve of the G8 Summit, civil society groups meeting in Sardinia are
calling for Italian oil company Eni to rethink plans to develop tar sands and
agro-fuels in Africa's Congo Basin. Ongoing research by the Heinrich Boell
Foundation, Campaign for the Reform of the World Bank (CRBM) and Rencontre pour
la paix et les droits de l'homme (RPDH) highlights the potentially devastating
impacts of the investment on the environment and local communities.1

The project also raises questions about the commitment of G8 companies and
governments - specifically Italy, G8 host and Eni's major shareholder – to
tackling climate change and improving access to energy for the world's poorest
citizens, key themes at this year's G8. In May, energy ministers said that:
"coping with the interlinked issues of energy investments, energy access and
availability, and the climate change challenge is key to the future of our
countries." They promised "resolute action" to address energy poverty,
particularly stark in Africa, despite the continent's vast fossil fuel wealth
and renewable energy potential.2

In 2008, Eni signed agreements to spend $3 billion on developing tar sands, palm
oil for fuel and food, and electricity in the Republic of Congo, located in the
Congo Basin, the second largest area of tropical forest left in the world and a
vital carbon sink.3 Italy's G8 Action Plan includes a specific commitment to
"safeguarding the forests of the Congo Basin".4 Congo is one of the poorest
countries in the world, despite decades of oil production, with a history of
corruption and conflict. Barely 25% of the population have access to
electricity, and the country lacks any proper environmental regulation.

Barbara Unmüßig, President of the Heinrich Boell Foundation says: "This is the
first tar sands project in Africa and its impacts on the local environment and
communities, and on our climate, would be huge. Neither Congo nor the world can
afford it." Tar or oil sands production is currently only occurring in Canada,
where its environmental and social costs are well-known: they include water
depletion and pollution, habitat destruction and deforestation, and the creation
of vast, toxic tailing ponds. Production of a barrel of tar sands bitumen is 3-5
times more intensive in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than a barrel of
conventional oil.5 Monoculture palm oil has also been heavily criticized by
civil society groups for causing deforestation, higher GHG emissions, threats to
food security and to indigenous groups.6

Local communities in Congo have long complained about the social and
environmental impacts of oil, especially the health impacts of gas flaring at
Eni's M'Boundi oil field. According to Christian Mounzéo, President of human
rights organisation RPDH, "there has been no meaningful consultation with local
communities, which contradicts Eni's human rights policies. Turning flared gas
into electricity could be a good step, but the flaring must stop urgently, and
Congolese people also need guaranteed access to the electricity."

CRBM campaigner Elena Gerebizza says "Eni and the Italian government are putting
profit above the environment and poverty eradication. As host of the G8,
promoting protection of the Congo Basin and a new development partnership with
Africa, Italy' s support for this project undermines its international
credibility". Civil society groups are calling on Eni to:

• Disclose full information about the impacts of its investments in Congo,
including current gas flaring levels at M'Boundi, and the detailed timetable for
the tar sands and palm oil development.
• Organise meaningful consultation with affected communities, as per Eni's
own environmental and human rights policies. Local communities and indigenous
groups must give free, prior, informed consent before any development takes
place.
• Stop further development of the tar sands and palm oil investments until
their potential risks have been fully assessed, including their impact on
greenhouse gas emission levels, and a credible risk management plan adopted.

Notes

1. For more background, see "Eni's new investment in tar sands and agro-fuels in
the Congo Basin" by Heinrich Boell Foundation (Germany's Green Political
Foundation), Campaign for the Reform of the World Ban (Italy), and Rencontre
pour la paix et les droits de l'homme (Congo), and supported by non-governmental
groups from throughout the G8 and Africa; www.crbm.org or www.boell.org. An
international civil society discussion is being held on 3 July 2009, on the
extractive sector, natural resources management and climate justice, as part of
an alternative G8 meeting taking place in Sardinia from July 1- 5 2009. See
www.gsotto.org.
2. JOINT STATEMENT BY THE G8 ENERGY MINISTERS, THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER AND THE
ENERGY MINISTERS OF ALGERIA, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, CHINA, EGYPT, INDIA, INDONESIA,
KOREA, LIBYA, MEXICO, NIGERIA, RWANDA, SAUDI ARABIA, SOUTH AFRICA, AND TURKEY,
25 May 2009. See http://www.g8energy2009.it/pdf/Session_II_III_EC.pdf
3. Eni 2008. "Eni and the Republic of Congo launch a new integrated model of
cooperation". 19 May 2008;
http://www.eni.it/en_IT/media/press-releases/2008/05/19-05-2008-integrated-model\
-congo.shtml.
4. "G8 Africa's Goals for 2009";
http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8/Home/G8_africa/G8-G8_Layout_locale-1199882116809_G\
8_Africa_Presidenza.htm.
5. See http://nonewoilsands.wordpress.com; Polaris Institute, 2009. Moratorium
Now! 6 Good Reasons why there should be a Moratorium Now on the expansion of the
Alberta Tar Sands,
www.tarsandswatch.org/files/Polaris_Tarsands_Moratorium_Declaration.pdf. Also BP
and Shell: Rising Costs in Tar Sands Investments, Greenpeace UK, Platform and
Oil Change International, September 2008 & "The Viability of Non-Conventional
Oil Development" Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Research Note, March 2009,
www.innovestgroup.com.
6. See for instance http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/palm-oil; Declarations
against the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO): In defence of Human
Rights, Food Sovereignty, October 2008, http://www.wrm.org.uy/index.html & "Halt
Climate Change — Halt Forest destruction — Halt Plantations",
http://www.redd-monitor.org/2009/06/10/halt-climate-change-halt-forest-destructi\
on-halt-plantations/