The British environmental organization Friends of the Earth vowed Wednesday to appeal an unfavorable decision by the High Court in London to block government funding for a natural gas extraction project in Mozambique.

According to Lusa, the High Court had initially issued a split decision between the two judges, leaving the outcome uncertain, but this Wednesday the organization confirmed that the case will have to be decided by the Court of Appeal.

The lack of a consensus among the judges, he explains in a statement, "means that an appeal is now required to reach a final result" and that, exceptionally, he has been allowed to proceed to the Court of Appeal.

In the ruling published on Tuesday, Judge Justine Thornton found that the UK export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF) failed to comply with its obligation to calculate the impact of the project in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, which calls into question compliance with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

However, Judge Jeremy Hugh Stuart-Smith found that there was "no legal or policy obligation to quantify emissions" and the project is in line with "Mozambique's stated climate change policies."

Friends of the Earth last year called for a judicial review of the government's funding of the Mozambique project, claiming it flouts London's commitments to the Paris Agreement and targets to halt global warming.

The British government has provided up to $1.15 billion (€1.35 billion at the current exchange rate) through the export credit agency UKEF to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project 'offshore' in the Rovuma basin in Cabo Delgado, north of the country.

For environmental organization the project will be responsible for releasing between 3,300 and 4,500 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the duration of the project.

Area 1 of the Project is under concession to a consortium led by the French oil company Total, which had to suspend construction work on the venture due to attacks by armed groups in Cabo Delgado province.

Valued at between 20 and 25 billion euros, Total's gas extraction megaproject is the largest private investment underway in Africa, backed by several international financial institutions, and envisages the construction of industrial units and a new city between Palma and the Afungi peninsula.