STANDARD BANK’S ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

A letter from the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), on behalf of the Life After Coal Campaign, urging Standard Bank to withdraw financial support for the proposed Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired power plants in South Africa.

• Standard Bank is identified as a financing contributor for both the Thabametsi and Khanyisa 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. Thabametsi lacks an atmospheric emission licence (AEL), a water use licence (WUL), and a NERSA generation licence. Khanyisa lacks a NERSA generation licence, and its provisional AEL and WUL are subject to appeal.
• 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. These areas already exceed ambient air quality standards, contributing to severe health issues such as heart attacks, strokes, and respiratory infections.
• Thabametsi and Khanyisa are expected to have greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensities nearly 60% higher than the Medupi and Kusile power stations, which the CER argues will hinder South Africa's ability to meet international emission reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.

APA

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

Chicago

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

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=STANDARD BANK’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-Standard-Bank_Coal-IPPs-and-draft-IRP_12-September-2018.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2018standard, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{STANDARD BANK’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-Standard-Bank_Coal-IPPs-and-draft-IRP_12-September-2018.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }