Tilenga Biodiversity Offset Programme — TotalEnergies' Contested "Net Positive Impact" Pledge (Uganda)

TotalEnergies E&P Uganda operates the Tilenga oil development on the shores of Lake Albert, adjoining Murchison Falls National Park, and is the operating partner (with the Uganda government and CNOOC) of the 1,443 km East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) to Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast. Since 2021 the company has committed to a "positive net impact on biodiversity" for the project area, structured around four ecosystems — Murchison Falls National Park, savanna, wetlands and forests — and has stated that roughly 80% of the Tilenga project's physical footprint will be returned to its natural state after construction.

TotalEnergies' own 2024 Biodiversity Report and project pages describe species-specific programmes, including habitat measures for black rhino, chimpanzee and pangolin, and state that the pipeline route "does not pass through any Ramsar or IUCN-protected areas."

Independent scrutiny in 2024–2026 complicates that picture. A June 2026 Earth Insight report found the EACOP route runs as close as 12 km from the Ramsar-listed Sango Bay-Musambwa Island-Kagera Wetland System (SAMUKA), a wetland complex valued at roughly $117 million in ecosystem services, and crosses corridors used by pangolins, African wild dogs, chimpanzees and colobus monkeys. The Uganda-based NGO AFIEGO reports that mitigation commitments have not held up on the ground: polluted water sources, "subpar" replacement wells, and siltation of wetlands from trenching spoil, with community grievances largely unresolved. Separately, a December 2024 report by FIDH, Avocats Sans Frontières and CRED ("Heated: Human Rights, Frontline Communities, and Oil in Uganda") documented land-rights, labour and safety concerns across the Tilenga, Kingfisher and EACOP sites; TotalEnergies disputed the report's characterisation while EACOP described its land programme as "a very positive example in the region."

As of mid-2026, no independent, third-party-audited biodiversity outcome monitoring for Tilenga has been published; the "net positive impact" claim remains a company target rather than a verified result, and is included here as an evidence-based cautionary case rather than a proven practice.

Read the full analysis: https://totalenergies.ug/projects/tilenga/tilenga-biodiversity-program