THE DEVELOPMENT BANK OF SOUTHERN AFRICA’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), writing on behalf of the Life After Coal Campaign, has requested that the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) clarify its role in financing the Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired power plants. The CER argues that financing these projects would be unreasonable due to their high greenhouse gas emissions, negative impacts on water and air quality, and the fact that South Africa currently has surplus base supply capacity.

• The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is cited in a Department of Energy Fact Sheet as having a total debt exposure of R 6 000 million for the two recommended Preferred Bidders of the First Bid Submission Phase: Thabametsi and Khanyisa power station.
• Both the Thabametsi and Khanyisa projects lack necessary legal authorisations to reach commercial or financial close. Thabametsi lacks an atmospheric emission licence, a water use licence, and a NERSA generation licence. Khanyisa lacks a generation licence from NERSA, and its provisional atmospheric emission licence and water use licence are subject to appeal.
• The CER asserts that financing these plants would be unreasonable because they would have greenhouse gas emission intensities nearly 60% higher than Eskom's Medupi and Kusile plants, leading to irreversible climate impacts.
• The proposed plants are located in polluted air quality priority areas: Thabametsi in the Waterberg-Bojanala Priority Area and Khanyisa in the Highveld Priority Area. The CER notes that ambient air quality standards are already exceeded in these areas, contributing to severe health issues such as asthma, respiratory infections, and heart attacks.
• Evidence suggests that new base supply capacity is not required for the foreseeable future as South Africa has surplus capacity. The coal IPPs would cost South Africa an additional R19.68 billion compared to a least-cost energy system and increase GHG emissions by 205,7Mt CO2eq over 30 years.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2018). THE DEVELOPMENT BANK OF SOUTHERN AFRICA’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-DBSA-16-August-2018.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. THE DEVELOPMENT BANK OF SOUTHERN AFRICA’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS. 2018. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-DBSA-16-August-2018.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=THE DEVELOPMENT BANK OF SOUTHERN AFRICA’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS |date=16 August 2018 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-DBSA-16-August-2018.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2018development, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{THE DEVELOPMENT BANK OF SOUTHERN AFRICA’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-DBSA-16-August-2018.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }