Air pollution from burning fossil fuels – primarily coal, oil, and gas – is attributed to an estimated 4.5 million deaths each year worldwide and estimated economic losses of approximately 3.3% of global GDP, new research from Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) shows. The report is the first of its kind to assess the global cost … [Read more...]
How can we take action to fight climate change?
The words ‘climate change’ are known by 41% of South Africans, according to a recent August 2019 Afro barometer Survey. However, there is quite a stark difference between having a term in our lexicon, and knowing what it means. There seems to be a stream of never-ending news on events like the April 2019 KwaZulu-Natal floods, and severe drought leaving several provinces … [Read more...]
Fossil fuel divestment: will UCT finally heed the call?
It is now six years since Fossil Free SA first called on the University of Cape Town (UCT) to phase out all investments in climate-destroying fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. In those six years, the global fossil fuel divestment movement has grown from a handful of institutions to well over a thousand, including New York, Paris, London, our own city of Cape Town; a whole … [Read more...]
Achieving a sustainable festive festive season
Keeping the holidays eco-friendly may seem like a daunting and perhaps, at times, even a somewhat impossible task. However, there are entirely manageable strategies to ensure that you can celebrate the Festive Season fully while also achieving sustainability. The Festive Season is often a time where waste increases. Many products that are not eco-friendly and/or … [Read more...]
Save the planet, work in sustainable energy
As students contemplate their next step in their careers in 2020, the energy sector offers current and future employment opportunities, as South Africa renews its efforts to create alternative energy sources (renewables) and better manage current energy production (coal-fired). This is the opinion of Barry Bredenkamp, General Manager for Energy Efficiency at the South … [Read more...]
Public comment sought on carbon tax regulations
Following the coming into effect of the Carbon Tax Act, National Treasury is seeking public comment into the Draft Regulations for Trade Exposure Allowance and the Draft Regulations for the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Intensity Benchmarks. “The National Treasury has published for public comment two further sets of regulations, namely Draft Regulations for the Trade … [Read more...]
Constitutional Court rules against Mpumalanga coal mining
The Constitutional Court has had the final say on the approvals for a coal mine inside an Mpumalanga Protected Area and Strategic Water Source Area. Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court refused the mining company’s final challenge of a 2018 High Court decision to set aside Ministerial approvals for the proposal coal mine. The Mabola Protected Environment near … [Read more...]
Activists highlight Safripol’s toxic legacy with protest action
It is high time that Safripol, one of Africa’s top plastic manufacturers, takes full responsibility for its toxic legacy of air pollution in local communities. Yesterday, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) and its supporters protested in Cape Town outside the building where KAP Industrial Holdings Limited's annual shareholder meeting is hosted. This … [Read more...]
Protesters demonstrate outside Cape Town oil conference
The Africa Oil Week conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre this week is bringing together governments, investors, international corporations, and lobbyists, who - despite our imminent global ecological crisis – remain unchallenged by our politicians as they further push our world over the edge of collapse through their aggressively escalating production of … [Read more...]
SA’s inadequate nuclear liability regulations finally updated
South Africa’s inadequate nuclear liability regulations have finally been updated and gazetted by Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe. This news comes after almost six years of Greenpeace Africa pushing the Minister to do so to protect taxpayers from the potentially astronomical costs of a nuclear accident. "We can finally celebrate the fact that the … [Read more...]
Between the drillers and the deep blue sea
Environmental attorneys Adrian Pole and Kirsten Youens have lodged a detailed appeal on behalf of WILDOCEANS with the Environment, Forestry and Fishery (DEFF) Minister Barbara Creecy, challenging an authorisation granted by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to authorize foreign mining giants Eni and Sasol to drill six exploration oil wells at two deep sea locations in … [Read more...]
SA’s plans for more coal electricity condemned
In the wake of a new bout of load-shedding, the long-overdue Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRP) was finally published for implementation today – following nearly a year of deliberations, behind closed doors, at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC). The Life After Coal Campaign (LAC) and Greenpeace Africa (GP) are appalled to note that the … [Read more...]
Sweden rejects major gas terminal on climate grounds
The Swedish government decided today to deny the EU-backed Gothenburg gas terminal its final permit on climate grounds. This development is the latest in a series of faltering gas projects and follows years of local opposition including a blockade of the harbour and terminal by hundreds of people in September. Olivia Linander of the local grassroots group Fossilgasfällan … [Read more...]
