OPPOSITION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PANEL OF EXPERTS TO PROVIDE STRATEGIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TOWARDS MANAGEMENT OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM EXISTING PLANTS

The Life After Coal Campaign (LAC) opposes the establishment of a panel of experts intended to provide guidance on managing sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from existing power plants in South Africa. The LAC argues that such a panel is unnecessary, would duplicate previous work done to set Minimum Emission Standards (MES), and would delay essential actions such as retrofitting plants with abatement technology or decommissioning non-compliant facilities. The campaign expresses concern that the panel could be used to weaken legal emission requirements or grant rolling postponements to operators like Eskom and Sasol. Additionally, the LAC notes a lack of transparency regarding the panel's terms of reference and criticizes the Minister of Environmental Affairs for previously weakening SO2 limits in the amended List of Activities published on 31 October 2018 without proper consultation.

• The Life After Coal Campaign (LAC) opposes the creation of the expert panel because it believes the process will "further delay the implementation of the necessary action to achieve compliance with the MES."
• The LAC asserts that the panel is redundant as it would "duplicate the extensive work that was done in setting the MES," a process that involved five years of multi-stakeholder consultation.
• The document argues that there is no legal basis for the Department of Environmental Affairs to allow industry to avoid minimum legal requirements due to cost, stating "there is no legislative provision which entitles the DEA to weaken the MES."
• The LAC contends that operators of existing plants, specifically Eskom and Sasol, should instead be required to "retrofit their plants with SO2 abatement technology, or commence with expedited plans to decommission their plants" that cannot meet the new plant SO2 limit of 500mg/Nm3.
• The LAC alleges that the Minister of Environmental Affairs weakened the new plant MES for SO2 for existing plants in the amended List of Activities published on 31 October 2018 without following the consultative process required by section 57(2) of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2018). OPPOSITION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PANEL OF EXPERTS TO PROVIDE STRATEGIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TOWARDS MANAGEMENT OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM EXISTING PLANTS. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CER-Letter-to-Minister-Mokonyane_Opposition-to-SO2-Expert-Panel_13-Decem....pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. OPPOSITION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PANEL OF EXPERTS TO PROVIDE STRATEGIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TOWARDS MANAGEMENT OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM EXISTING PLANTS. 2018. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CER-Letter-to-Minister-Mokonyane_Opposition-to-SO2-Expert-Panel_13-Decem....pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=OPPOSITION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PANEL OF EXPERTS TO PROVIDE STRATEGIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TOWARDS MANAGEMENT OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM EXISTING PLANTS |date=13 December 2018 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CER-Letter-to-Minister-Mokonyane_Opposition-to-SO2-Expert-Panel_13-Decem....pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2018opposition, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{OPPOSITION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PANEL OF EXPERTS TO PROVIDE STRATEGIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TOWARDS MANAGEMENT OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM EXISTING PLANTS}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CER-Letter-to-Minister-Mokonyane_Opposition-to-SO2-Expert-Panel_13-Decem....pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }