Evaluating Eskom’s latest MES exemption request: Implications for air quality and public health

This briefing by the Centre for Environmental Rights evaluates Eskom's November 2024 request for Minimum Emission Standards (MES) exemptions for eight power stations. The authors argue that Eskom's cost-benefit analysis is fundamentally flawed, systematically underestimating the health benefits of compliance while prioritizing financial savings over public health and international air quality standards.

• Eskom's request for MES exemptions is based on a flawed analysis that underestimates health benefits by omitting critical morbidity impacts, using outdated 2011 census data—which underestimates the 2024 population by approximately 15%—and limiting its geographical scope to within 33 km of power plants despite pollutants like PM2.5 and SO2 traveling thousands of kilometers.
• The analysis employs a linear relative risk (RR) of 1.08 for every 10 µg/m³ increase in PM2.5, which the authors claim oversimplifies the relationship between pollution and health and specifically underestimates risks in rural areas where baseline pollution is low.
• The briefing identifies ethical failures in Eskom's cost-benefit analysis (CBA), noting that it ignores the disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups (children, pregnant women, and the elderly) and uses the threat of electricity tariff increases to manipulate public perception and deter compliance.
• Eskom's analysis fails to align with international health standards by using South Africa's legal air quality limits instead of the stricter World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines; for instance, South Africa's annual PM2.5 threshold is 20 µg/m³, whereas the WHO recommends 5 µg/m³.
• In November 2024, Eskom submitted additional exemption applications for the Duvha, Kendal, Lethabo, Majuba, Matimba, Matla, Medupi, and Tutuka power stations.

APA

Kelly, J., Uusivuori, E., & Tattari, V. (2024). Evaluating Eskom’s latest MES exemption request: Implications for air quality and public health. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Annexure-3.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Kelly, Jamie, Erika Uusivuori, and Vera Tattari. Evaluating Eskom’s latest MES exemption request: Implications for air quality and public health. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2024. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Annexure-3.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kelly |first1=Jamie |last2=Uusivuori |first2=Erika |last3=Tattari |first3=Vera |title=Evaluating Eskom’s latest MES exemption request: Implications for air quality and public health |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=2 December 2024 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Annexure-3.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kelly2024evaluating, author = {Kelly, Jamie and Uusivuori, Erika and Tattari, Vera}, title = {{Evaluating Eskom’s latest MES exemption request: Implications for air quality and public health}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Annexure-3.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }