- South Africa’s state-owned power utility confirms it remains firmly committed to reducing its environmental footprint while ensuring energy security for South Africa.
- To date, Eskom has invested over R3 billion in emissions reduction projects, with R15.6 billion allocated over the next five years.
- In a statement, Eskom confirmed that achieving Minimum Emission Standards (MES) compliance by 2030 will require ~R257 billion in capital investment and ~R6.3 billion in annual operating costs which will have a significant impact on Eskom and add up to ~10% to the electricity tariff.
- Given the current trajectory of future non-compliance, 22GW of capacity is at risk of being shut down due to SO2 non-compliance post-2030.
- The government has allowed Eskom to exceed minimum emissions standards at eight of its coal power stations leading up to 2030. Read more
South Africa is among the world’s top 15 greenhouse gas emitters with Eskom the biggest air polluter. The electricity sector’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal, is a major driver of high levels of nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. Read more
In response, Eskom is pursuing innovative, community-focused solutions. The Masibambisane Air Quality Offset Project in Amersfoort, Mpumalanga, is helping low-income households transition from coal and wood to cleaner energy sources such as electricity and LPG which is improving indoor air quality and promoting healthier living conditions.
Eskom is also working to reduce its emissions and this is supported by regular emissions testing, strict operational protocols, and close collaboration with regulators and stakeholders.
“We are committed to meeting environmental regulations through continuous monitoring, transparent reporting, and proactive plant upgrades,” said Bheki Nxumalo, Eskom’s Group Executive for Generation.
Related news: Government continues to give Eskom and Sasol free pass on carbon emissions
Despite progress, Eskom acknowledges a decline in performance across key environmental indicators such as particulate emissions, water usage, and incident frequency over the past five years. These challenges are largely linked to the broader energy crisis and the complexity of maintaining environmental standards under operational pressure.
Nevertheless, Eskom continues to lead in environmental monitoring. It operates South Africa’s most extensive ambient air quality monitoring network, managed by its Research, Testing and Development (RT&D) department. The network now includes 22 strategically located stations, many near power plants in line with Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) requirements. These stations support research and track the impact of Eskom’s stations and air quality offset initiatives.
The network monitors pollutants such as NOx, SOx and PM, providing critical data to assess compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Results from Eskom and other monitoring stations show that air quality in Mpumalanga generally meets national standards in respect of SOx and NOx. Particulate Matter (dust) does however often exceed the NAAQS throughout the country with elevated levels linked to many sources including veld fires, fugitive dust for mines, household fuel use, waste burning, and industry including Eskom.
Eskom is exploring new technologies and supporting a Just Transition to a low-carbon economy. The utility aims to reduce fleet-wide emissions by 40% by 2030, in alignment with the revised Highveld Priority Area Plan and the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
“Eskom’s approach to sustainability is holistic and is not just about reducing emissions but about managing natural resources wisely, supporting communities, and building a resilient energy future for South Africa,” the utility concluded in a statement.
Eskom debt
Eskom has unsustainable debt of over R420 billion. Over a three year period, government is in the process of providing Eskom with debt relief amounting to R254 billion. This will take the form of advances of R78 billion in 2023/24, R66 billion in 2024/25 and R40 billion in 2025/26. These amounts represent Eskom’s full debt settlement requirement over the next three years. They will be financed through the R66 billion medium- term expenditure framework (MTEF) baseline provision announced in the 2019 Budget, and R118billion in additional borrowing over the MTEF period. Additionally, in 2025/26, government will directly take over up to R70 billion of Eskom’s loan portfolio.
Eskom effectively pays interest on interest. In FY23/24 it repaid R90bn principal+interest with net earnings of only R10bn, supplemented by a R76bn bailout. The state owned power utility reported a record loss of R55 billion in its latest annual financial statement for 2023/24.
Related news: Tax payers money is already nearing R495 billion in Eskom bailouts
Municipal debt an existential threat
Ballooning municipal debt is now an existential threat to Eskom which is expected to reach R120 billion by March 2025.
Eskom Group Executive for Distribution, Monde Bala, explained that metro’s have now joined municipalities in a culture of short paying or not paying Eskom at all after collecting money from the end user. A staggering 75 municipalities are in debt to Eskom.
Eskom Group chief executive officer Dan Marokane explained that the intention is not to make them (municipalities) ashamed, the intention is to show the scale of the challenge that we are dealing with. It consumes resources from management time, and it does place fundamental risk insofar as the financial sustainability of the business is concerned.” Read more
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
