BRIEFING TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: ENFORCEMENT OF MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS IN THE PRIORITY AREAS; THE HIGHVELD REPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS RECOMMENDATIONS; AND AIR QUALITY IN PRIORITY AREAS AND THE STATUS OF AIR QUALITY MONITORING STATIONS

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) submitted a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs on 12 June 2017, detailing the failure of the Highveld Priority Area (HPA) to meet national air quality standards. The CER argues that postponements of minimum emission standards (MES) granted to Eskom and Sasol have hindered progress, and that the national air quality monitoring network is severely dysfunctional.

• The Highveld Priority Area (HPA), declared in November 2007 with an air quality management plan (AQMP) published in March 2012, has failed to meet its primary goal of ensuring ambient air quality complies with national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Data from five Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) monitoring stations show that PM 2.5, PM10, and ozone (O3) are consistently exceeded.
• The 2014 decision to grant postponements of compliance with minimum emission standards (MES) to Sasol and Eskom has negatively impacted the HPA's ability to meet NAAQS. The CER asserts that Eskom likely fails to comply even with these postponed standards and intends to seek "rolling postponements" until its stations are decommissioned, a practice the CER claims is illegal.
• A mid-term review (MTR) of the HPA AQMP indicates that air quality has not significantly improved in nearly ten years. The review identifies industrial sources as the primary contributors of SO2 and NOx, while mining is the largest contributor of PM10 emissions. The CER criticizes the MTR's recommendation to revise the AQMP to include "more realistic" targets as an inappropriate response to failure.
• The national air quality monitoring network is described as inadequate and largely inaccessible. While the DEA's annual performance plan targeted 115 government-owned stations reporting to the South Africa Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS) for 2016/17, this target was set to decrease to 75 in 2017/18 without explanation. Experts suggest that less than half of the 145 stations in the national network produce data, and only approximately 20 produce data of adequate quality.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2017). BRIEFING TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: ENFORCEMENT OF MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS IN THE PRIORITY AREAS; THE HIGHVELD REPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS RECOMMENDATIONS; AND AIR QUALITY IN PRIORITY AREAS AND THE STATUS OF AIR QUALITY MONITORING STATIONS. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-to-PCEA-12-June-2017.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. BRIEFING TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: ENFORCEMENT OF MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS IN THE PRIORITY AREAS; THE HIGHVELD REPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS RECOMMENDATIONS; AND AIR QUALITY IN PRIORITY AREAS AND THE STATUS OF AIR QUALITY MONITORING STATIONS. 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-to-PCEA-12-June-2017.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=BRIEFING TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: ENFORCEMENT OF MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS IN THE PRIORITY AREAS; THE HIGHVELD REPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS RECOMMENDATIONS; AND AIR QUALITY IN PRIORITY AREAS AND THE STATUS OF AIR QUALITY MONITORING STATIONS |date=12 June 2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-to-PCEA-12-June-2017.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2017briefing, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{BRIEFING TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: ENFORCEMENT OF MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS IN THE PRIORITY AREAS; THE HIGHVELD REPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS RECOMMENDATIONS; AND AIR QUALITY IN PRIORITY AREAS AND THE STATUS OF AIR QUALITY MONITORING STATIONS}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CER-Letter-to-PCEA-12-June-2017.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }