NEDBANK’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, urges Nedbank to withdraw financial support for the Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired power plants. The letter argues that these projects are not 'least-cost' options, face significant legal challenges regarding environmental and generation licenses, and would cause severe health and climate impacts in South Africa.

• Nedbank is identified as a financing contributor to both the Thabametsi and Khanyisa proposed coal-fired power stations, which are preferred bidders in the Coal Baseload Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (CBIPPPP).
• The 2018 draft Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRP) includes 1000MW of coal-to-power for 2023–2024 from Thabametsi and Khanyisa, despite acknowledging that the 'least-cost' option contains only gas, wind, and solar and contains no coal.
• The Life After Coal Campaign disputes the claim that the projects are 'procured', noting that neither has reached commercial or financial close due to outstanding or challenged legal authorisations, including atmospheric emission, water use, and NERSA generation licences.
• The proposed power plants are located in polluted air quality priority areas—Thabametsi in the Waterberg-Bojanala Priority Area and Khanyisa in the Highveld Priority Area—where current air quality already causes severe health issues such as heart attacks, strokes, and respiratory infections.
• Thabametsi and Khanyisa are projected to have greenhouse gas emission intensities nearly 60% higher than Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile stations, which the CER argues will exacerbate South Africa's vulnerability to climate change and hinder its Paris Agreement commitments.
• The CER criticizes Nedbank for excluding its 'existing commitments' to the coal baseload procurement programme from its 2018 policy to stop providing project financing for new coal-fired power plants.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2018). NEDBANK’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-Nedbank_Coal-IPPs-and-the-draft-IRP_12-September-2018.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. NEDBANK’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS. 2018. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-Nedbank_Coal-IPPs-and-the-draft-IRP_12-September-2018.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=NEDBANK’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS |date=12 September 2018 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-Nedbank_Coal-IPPs-and-the-draft-IRP_12-September-2018.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2018nedbanks, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{NEDBANK’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CER-letter-to-Nedbank_Coal-IPPs-and-the-draft-IRP_12-September-2018.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }