Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal

The report analyzes a 3.75 billion dollar World Bank loan to Eskom Holding Limited for the Eskom Investment Support Project in South Africa, which included a 4,800 MW coal-fired power plant. It asserts that the World Bank violated its own Operational Policy 10.04 (OP 10.04) by failing to fully consider environmental and social externalities in the project's Economic Evaluation. The authors argue that this failure renders the evaluation inaccurate and suggests a broader pattern where the World Bank over-invests in large-scale centralized energy projects—including coal, oil, gas, nuclear, and large hydro—by overstating benefits and ignoring negative costs.

• The World Bank approved a 3.75 billion dollar loan to Eskom Holding Limited for the Eskom Investment Support Project in South Africa, which funded a 4,800 MW coal-fired power plant alongside renewable energy and low carbon rail investments.

APA

Amerasinghe, & Porter (2011). Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/reports/fossilized-thinking-the-world-bank-eskom-and-the-real-cost-of-coal-amerasinghe-porter-march-2011analysis-of-the-world-bank-eskom-loan-to-fund-a-large-energy-project-in-south-africa-and-how-t/

Chicago

Amerasinghe, and Porter. Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal. Center for International Environmental Law, 2011. https://www.ciel.org/reports/fossilized-thinking-the-world-bank-eskom-and-the-real-cost-of-coal-amerasinghe-porter-march-2011analysis-of-the-world-bank-eskom-loan-to-fund-a-large-energy-project-in-south-africa-and-how-t/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Amerasinghe |last2=Porter |title=Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=1 March 2011 |url=https://www.ciel.org/reports/fossilized-thinking-the-world-bank-eskom-and-the-real-cost-of-coal-amerasinghe-porter-march-2011analysis-of-the-world-bank-eskom-loan-to-fund-a-large-energy-project-in-south-africa-and-how-t/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{amerasinghe2011fossilized, author = {Amerasinghe and Porter}, title = {{Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/reports/fossilized-thinking-the-world-bank-eskom-and-the-real-cost-of-coal-amerasinghe-porter-march-2011analysis-of-the-world-bank-eskom-loan-to-fund-a-large-energy-project-in-south-africa-and-how-t/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }