The level of sulfur dioxide emissions in the Kriel area in Mpumalanga province only lags the Norilsk Nickel metal complex in the Russian town of Norilsk, the environmental group said in a statement, citing 2018 data from NASA satellites. The province is home to most of Eskom’s 15 coal-fired power plants as well as coal-to-fuel plants owned by Sasol Ltd., South Africa’s biggest company by revenue.
South Africa’s government is under growing pressure to act against air pollution caused by the two companies as it’s being sued by environmental activists over the violation of the constitutional right to clean air. Sulfur dioxide is linked to lower respiratory infections and increased risk of stroke, as well as increased risk of death from diabetes. Eskom accounts for 42% of South Africa’s greenhouse gases, while Sasol emits 11% of the total.
The age of cheap energy at the expense of the health of citizens is now long past. There are other better alternatives and these needed to be invested in for the longer term. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s we did not know better and many suffered with respiratory diseases and ailments but today we not only know better, we also have alternatives. Unfortunately, unless there are real punitive measures companies will try get away with anything (remember Big Tobacco paying doctors to tell us cigarettes were not harmful).
#southafrica #environment #airpollution
#^South Africa is world’s second-largest hotspot of sulfur dioxide emissions
The area around coal-fired plants owned by Eskom ranks as the world’s second-largest hotspot of sulfur dioxide emissions.