Hot under the collar

The EastMed gas pipeline, a proposed €7 billion project to transport Israeli gas to Europe via Cyprus and Greece, is criticized for its reliance on Energean, a company whose co-founders allegedly profited from a banking scheme that contributed to Cyprus's 2013 financial crisis. The project is further condemned for risking military tensions between Greece and Turkey and for its high carbon footprint, which would undermine the EU's goal to reduce gas consumption by 90 percent by 2050. Global Witness calls for the EU to remove all gas projects from its Project of Common Interest (PCI) list and amend the TEN-E Regulation to end support for fossil gas infrastructure.

• The EastMed pipeline is a proposed 1,900 km project costing up to €7 billion that would transport gas from Israel's offshore fields through Cyprus and Greece to Italy and beyond. It has received €36 million in EU funds, representing half of all investment to date, and holds Project of Common Interest (PCI) status.
• Energean is currently the only company to have committed to transporting gas through the pipeline, signing a deal in January 2020 to transport 2 bcm of gas to Greece via DEPA.
• Energean's co-founders, Mathios Rigas and Efstathios Topouzoglou, allegedly used €66 million in loans from Laiki Bank in 2010 to invest €50 million in Marfin Investment Group (MIG) bonds. Laiki's administrators claim such loans to third parties to benefit the bank's Chairman helped cause the bank's collapse and the subsequent Cypriot financial crisis.
• The funds from the Laiki loans were used to capitalize Energean; between February 2010 and the following year, the company's share capital at least doubled, with over €53 million invested into Cypriot Energean entities from shell companies owned by the co-founders.
• The pipeline is likely to increase regional military tensions, as its route passes through disputed Mediterranean waters claimed by Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey, competing with Turkey's TANAP pipeline.
• EastMed contradicts EU climate goals; if the pipeline operated at full capacity from 2025 to 2050, it would produce more carbon than the current annual combined emissions of France, Spain, and Italy.
• The EU's support for such projects is driven by the Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) Regulation, which Global Witness argues provides preferential treatment and taxpayer funds to fossil gas infrastructure through the PCI status and the Connecting Europe Facility.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Hot under the collar. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/hot-under-the-collar/

Chicago

Global Witness. Hot under the collar. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/hot-under-the-collar/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Hot under the collar |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/hot-under-the-collar/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitnessndhot, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Hot under the collar}}, institution = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/hot-under-the-collar/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }