Three environmental organisations secure a historic victory against the South African government: coal expansion must be halted.
To meet the country's energy needs, the South African government had planned to add a further 1,500 megawatts of new coal energy to the national electricity grid. But the past tense is now obligatory, because on 4 December 2024 the High Court ruled in favour of the environmentalists: a plan of this kind must be halted, because it puts the health of future generations at risk and therefore violates the Constitution.
Among the twenty major industrialised nations (G20), South Africa is the one that still relies on coal more than any other. The International Energy Agency (Iea) reports that this fossil fuel accounts for over 70 per cent of the energy mix and generates over 84 per cent of electricity. By way of comparison, in Europe the respective figures are 13.5 and 17.1 per cent.
This explains why greenhouse gas emissions from the energy system have grown by 40 per cent since 2000. Beyond the climate dimension, there is also a public health dimension. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates that pollutant emissions from the country's coal-fired power stations contribute to over 2,200 premature deaths every year, as well as thousands of cases of bronchitis and asthma in adults and children.
It was for this reason that, faced with the decision to persist with coal, in 2021 three environmental organisations – African Climate Alliance (Aca), Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action (Vem) and Groundwork Trust – took legal action against what was then the Ministry of Energy and the national regulatory authority for the sector. Representing them was the Centre for Environmental Rights (Cer).
The legal action, named Cancel Coal, ended in a clear victory for the activists. The Pretoria government's plan to further increase coal-fired electricity capacity – the ruling states – does not comply with the law and is therefore without legal force, because it fails to adequately take into account the rights of present and future generations. It thus violates Article 28 of the South African Constitution.
