INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AFTER COAL CAMPAIGN AND REQUEST FOR A MEETING REGARDING SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY FUTURE

A letter from the Life After Coal Campaign to South Africa's Minister of Energy, Jeff Radebe, requesting a meeting to discuss the country's energy trajectory and advocating for a just transition from coal and nuclear power to renewable energy.

• The Life After Coal Campaign, comprising the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), groundWork (gW), and Earthlife Africa, Johannesburg (ELA), seeks to stop investment in new coal mines and power stations, accelerate the retirement of existing coal infrastructure, and facilitate a just transition to renewable energy.
• The campaign proposes eleven minimum principles for the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRP), including the need to promote constitutional human rights, use the least-cost combination of technologies as the base case, factor in external costs to health and climate, and align with South Africa's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
• The campaign argues that adding new coal or nuclear power to the energy mix would be 'unreasonable, irrational, and unconstitutional' and would fail to provide the least-cost electricity or meet international climate obligations.
• A study by Meridian Economics suggests that Eskom could save up to R17 billion by accelerating the decommissioning of the Grootvlei, Hendrina, and Komati coal-fired power stations and curtailing the completion of Kusile units 5 and 6, without compromising security of supply.
• Multiple analyses, including those by the CSIR Energy Centre, the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Eskom's own 2017 IRP modelling team, indicate that new coal and nuclear plants are no longer competitive and that the lowest cost for new capacity is primarily solar and wind.
• The campaign advocates for the transformation of Eskom into a state organ that owns renewable energy assets and provides affordable, clean energy, including increased free basic electricity and support for community ownership.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2018). INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AFTER COAL CAMPAIGN AND REQUEST FOR A MEETING REGARDING SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY FUTURE. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/LAC-Letter-to-Minister-Radebe_28-Feb-2018_final.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AFTER COAL CAMPAIGN AND REQUEST FOR A MEETING REGARDING SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY FUTURE. 2018. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/LAC-Letter-to-Minister-Radebe_28-Feb-2018_final.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AFTER COAL CAMPAIGN AND REQUEST FOR A MEETING REGARDING SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY FUTURE |date=28 February 2018 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/LAC-Letter-to-Minister-Radebe_28-Feb-2018_final.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2018introduction, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AFTER COAL CAMPAIGN AND REQUEST FOR A MEETING REGARDING SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY FUTURE}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/LAC-Letter-to-Minister-Radebe_28-Feb-2018_final.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }