Toxic Sasol happy to bypass minimum emissions standards until 2030

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  • On 5 April 2024, South Africa’s then Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Barbara Creecy overruled theย National Air Quality Officer’s (NAQO) appeal againstย allowing Sasol further leniency in relation to its toxic air pollution.
  • The minister’s decision effectively allows Sasol,ย a major polluter, emitting some 167 kilotonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO2) from its industrial processes every year, to exceed minimum emissions standards set by the government.ย 
  • Sasol also emits several other dangerous pollutants and is a major contributor to the toxic air quality on the Mpumalanga Highveld, which has been held toย violate the constitutional right to a healthy environment.
  • In SENS announcement yesterday, Sasol confirmed that the alternativeย load-based limits will be applied from 1 April 2025 up to 31 March 2030.

Sasolโ€™s appealed the decision of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environmentโ€™s National Air Quality Officer (NAQO) – which refused Sasolโ€™s application for โ€œalternative limitsโ€ for SO2 pollution from the 17 coal-fired boilers at its Secunda facility. Activist shareholder groupย Just Share opposed this appealย and provided expert evidence that MES compliance would reduce premature deaths and negative health impacts by 40-60%; whereas Sasolโ€™s proposed limit โ€“ even by April 2030 โ€“ would only reduce these impacts by 5% compared to Sasolโ€™s 2022-2023 emissions. Granting Sasolโ€™s appeal will result in approximately 50-130% higher negative impacts than MES compliance.

Author: Bryan Groenendaal

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