OBJECTIONS TO ESKOM’S APPLICATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE LIMITS TO THE MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS (MES) FOR THE MEDUPI AND MATIMBA POWER STATIONS

The Life After Coal campaign, comprising the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), groundWork (gW), and Earthlife Africa (ELA), submitted formal objections on 28 August 2020 against Eskom's applications for alternative emission limits at the Medupi and Matimba power stations. The campaign argues that these requests are an unlawful attempt to circumvent South Africa's Minimum Emission Standards (MES) and violate constitutional rights to a healthy environment.

• The Life After Coal campaign asserts that Eskom's applications for alternative emission limits at Medupi and Matimba are effectively unlawful exemptions from the Minimum Emission Standards (MES), which would violate the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (NEMA), the Air Quality Act (AQA), and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
• Atmospheric impact reports (AIR) indicate that the alternative limits requested by Eskom would lead to 100% non-compliance with hourly and daily national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for sulphur dioxide (SO2) at every sensitive receptor until 2030 when considering emissions from both plants.
• The campaign claims that public participation for these applications was inadequate, noting that residents in Wards 3 and 4, located within 30 kilometres of the power stations, were unable to participate due to lack of information and limited internet access during virtual meetings.
• The document highlights a severe discrepancy in health impact estimates: while Eskom estimated 320 premature mortality cases annually from 13 stations, independent studies attribute 626 equivalent annual deaths to the Medupi and Matimba stations alone.
• The campaign argues that Eskom's strategy of seeking 'rolling postponements' and alternative limits is a willful disregard for the law and fails to achieve sustainable development as defined by the Constitution.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2020). OBJECTIONS TO ESKOM’S APPLICATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE LIMITS TO THE MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS (MES) FOR THE MEDUPI AND MATIMBA POWER STATIONS. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LAC-Objections_Medupi-and-Matimba-MES-applications_28-August-2020.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. OBJECTIONS TO ESKOM’S APPLICATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE LIMITS TO THE MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS (MES) FOR THE MEDUPI AND MATIMBA POWER STATIONS. 2020. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LAC-Objections_Medupi-and-Matimba-MES-applications_28-August-2020.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=OBJECTIONS TO ESKOM’S APPLICATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE LIMITS TO THE MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS (MES) FOR THE MEDUPI AND MATIMBA POWER STATIONS |date=28 August 2020 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LAC-Objections_Medupi-and-Matimba-MES-applications_28-August-2020.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2020objections, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{OBJECTIONS TO ESKOM’S APPLICATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE LIMITS TO THE MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS (MES) FOR THE MEDUPI AND MATIMBA POWER STATIONS}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LAC-Objections_Medupi-and-Matimba-MES-applications_28-August-2020.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }