23-05-2025
Union Investment cuts TotalEnergies stake over East Africa allegations
Germany's Union Investment has dropped French oil major TotalEnergies from its sustainability funds and called for an independent human rights audit following fresh allegations of abuses at a $15bn (R268.66bn) project in East Africa.
The move by Union, a top-20 investor according to LSEG data, comes ahead of TotalEnergies' annual shareholder meeting on Friday and could potentially undermine its standing among investors focused on environmental, social and governance issues.
TotalEnergies denied the allegations made by non-profit Just Finance International (JFI) concerning the Kingfisher oil site in Uganda, part of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in which Total has a 62% stake.
A spokesperson for the oil major added it was in talks with Union Investment about its African projects.
Union declined to confirm the scale of its divestment. Data from industry tracker Morningstar Direct showed Union held around 50 million euros worth of TotalEnergies shares and bonds across its sustainable funds, and still holds a stake of around €900m (R18.28bn) across other funds.
