REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: KARPOWERSHIP SOUTH AFRICA

The document is a formal request for information sent to Standard Chartered Bank by the Centre for Environmental Rights on behalf of Fair Finance Southern Africa, seeking clarification on the bank's role in financing Karpowership SA's floating gas-to-power projects in South Africa.

• Karpowership SA is a joint venture between Karpowership (51%) and Powergroup (49%) intended to provide 1,220 MW of capacity across three sites: 450 MW in Coega, 450 MW in Richards Bay, and 320 MW in Saldanha, under a 20-year contract as part of the South African government's Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP).
• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) refused environmental authorisations for all three projects in 2021 and subsequently dismissed an appeal, citing "procedural irregularities" and a "lack of information related to actual and potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts."
• The projects are criticised for prolonging fossil fuel reliance and hindering South Africa's Just Energy Transition, with estimated full-cycle methane emissions over 20 years ranging from 80 to 142 million tonnes CO2e, equivalent to the annual emissions of 17.2 to 30.5 million petrol passenger vehicles.
• Research by Profundo indicates that a syndicate of four banks—Standard Chartered (UK), Investec Group (South Africa), Isbank (Turkey), and MCB Group (Mauritius)—provided a US$ 140 million loan to Karpowership in March 2020 for general corporate purposes, which the authors conclude was intended to finance Karpowership SA operations.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2022). REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: KARPOWERSHIP SOUTH AFRICA. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Letter-to-Standard-Chartered-UK-re-Karpowership-SA.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: KARPOWERSHIP SOUTH AFRICA. 2022. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Letter-to-Standard-Chartered-UK-re-Karpowership-SA.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: KARPOWERSHIP SOUTH AFRICA |date=September 2022 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Letter-to-Standard-Chartered-UK-re-Karpowership-SA.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2022request, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: KARPOWERSHIP SOUTH AFRICA}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Letter-to-Standard-Chartered-UK-re-Karpowership-SA.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }