The Green Connection say that they are relieved to hear that TotalEnergies may abandon its offshore production right application to exploit an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent from the Brulpadda and Luiperd gas fields in Block 11B/12B. This block is located off South Africa’s south coast and is situated between Mossel Bay and Cape St. Francis.

According to The Green Connection’s Advocacy Officer Lisa Makaula, “If TotalEnergies is abandoning 11B/12B, we welcome this because the climate crisis is forcing humankind to adapt or perish. Marginalised communities already bear the brunt of climate change, and still they are expected to sacrifice and risk their environment and livelihoods so that oil and gas companies can drill up fossil fuels that are no longer needed. As a young South African who is concerned about what the future holds, I believe that these fossil fuel companies should fully divest from fossil fuels and instead, refocus their investments into renewable energy projects.”

The Green Connection says that it does not support gas as part of a ‘just transition’ because the latest climate science clearly states that, over a 20-year period, methane emissions warm the atmosphere at least 80 times more than the carbon dioxide from coal This is one of the main reasons the organisation says it will continue to challenge all oil and gas exploration activities, such as with its current joint legal challenge (with Natural Justice) – against the decision to grant an environmental authorisation to TotalEnergies EP South Africa (TEEPSA) for exploratory drilling in block 5/6/7, located off the coast between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas.

Makaula says that these companies that insist on being the fossil fools of our time, must realise that civil society will keep pushing back. South Africans are currently bearing the burden of global society’s failure to address climate change. Scientists have been sounding the alarm about burning fossil fuels and climate change for decades. South Africa needs to halve its emissions by 2030 and to honour international commitments, must reduce emissions standards by 2050.

“These oil and gas companies should have begun rethinking their priorities, to instead invest in renewable projects, ages ago. Now, we need sustainable economic development that won’t leave anyone behind or jeopardise the livelihoods of coastal communities.”