REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR COLENSO IPP POWER STATION

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) sent a letter to the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and other stakeholders requesting confirmation that the proposed Colenso coal-fired power station will undergo a comprehensive climate change impact assessment. This request follows a court judgment in the case of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Others (the Thabametsi judgement), which established that climate change impacts must be assessed before granting environmental authorisation for coal-fired power stations.

• The Gauteng Provincial Division's judgment in Earthlife Africa Johannesburg v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Others (the Thabametsi judgement) established that climate change impacts of proposed coal-fired power stations must be assessed and comprehensively considered before an environmental authorisation (EA) is issued.
• The CER asserts that the EIA process for the Colenso power station contained a "wholly-inadequate consideration of climate change impacts" and that the Minister's decision on 8 November 2016 to reject the appeal regarding the need for a climate change impact assessment was a "material error of law" in light of the Thabametsi judgement.
• According to the Thabametsi judgement, a comprehensive climate change impact assessment must go beyond greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to include analysis of water scarcity, social and environmental costs, project feasibility, the exacerbation of climate change impacts for South Africans, and potential mitigation measures, ideally via a "professionally researched climate change impact report".
• The CER is seeking urgent confirmation by 13 April 2017 that Colenso will comprehensively assess climate change impacts, follow public participation requirements per the EIA Regulations 2014, and that the DEA will consider this report when reconsidering the EA.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2017). REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR COLENSO IPP POWER STATION. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-re-Colenso-CCIA_3-April-2017.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR COLENSO IPP POWER STATION. 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-re-Colenso-CCIA_3-April-2017.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR COLENSO IPP POWER STATION |date=3 April 2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-re-Colenso-CCIA_3-April-2017.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2017request, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR COLENSO IPP POWER STATION}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, month = apr, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-re-Colenso-CCIA_3-April-2017.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }