The local authorities in Uganda initiated their own investigation after articles in Aftonbladet described abuses. We have now read the report and share it with you here.

The report is in line with what we saw and concluded ourselves during our visit in June. It is also consistent with the way we have perceived the project for over 15 years through annual reports and third-party audits, namely that it benefits farmers on several levels to be involved; that the benefits go far beyond the direct income it provides. The project certainly has some administrative improvement areas that have been highlighted in previous reports, but contributes to creating conditions for better resilience, more diversified farms, better micro-climate, cleaner water, etc.

Some conclusions from the report:

"The accusations in the article were completely unfounded. All the farmers interviewed had a good balance between crop cultivation and tree planting, with a diversity of both food and cash crops... There is nothing about these farmers, their homes and the landscape in general that should justify the claim in the newspaper article".

"We therefore recommend that the Hoima and Kikuube District Security Committees consider conducting a thorough investigation into what appears to be part of an elaborate attack on smallholder access to the coal credit market"

Link to the report of the Kikuube District Local Government:

Inter-District Monitoring Report - ECOTRUST

Link to and a shorter summary in Swedish:

Summary and translation-20241003

What happens next?

From the outset, we have taken the newspaper articles very seriously and wanted to get to the bottom of the allegations and transparently share information as it becomes available. In addition to conducting our own investigation in the area in June together with three independent researchers, we are waiting for two more reports. The first is from Ernst & Young on behalf of MAX Burgers and the second is done by Astor Global and is the third-party audit that is done every five years in accordance with the Plan Vivo standard. The information we have at the moment is that extracts from the E&Y investigation will be made available to us in the near future. The second audit is partially done but there is a shortage of authorized project auditors and therefore there are a lot of delays for climate projects in general. Unfortunately, we have no information on when a report will be available.

We remain confident that Trees for Global Benefits in Uganda is a project with great climate benefits and provides many added values for the participants. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us!