Climate change
Victory in SA’s first climate
change court case
I
n March the North Gauteng High Court ruled
in favour of environmental justice organisation
Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA), and referred
the appeal against the environmental authorisation
for a new coal-fired power station back to the Minister of
Environmental Affairs on the basis that its climate change
impacts had not properly been considered.
In South Africa’s first climate
change lawsuit, ELA challenged
Environmental Affairs’ Minister
Molewa’s rejection of its appeal
against the approval given to
the proposed Thabametsi coal-
fired power station in Limpopo.
The approval was granted by the
Department of Environmental
Affairs (DEA) even though there
had been no comprehensive
assessment of the climate
change impacts of this new coal-
fired power station.
The court ordered that the
Minister reconsider the appeal,
now taking into account a
full climate change impact
assessment report, and all
public comments received. The
judgement makes clear that the
DEA and the Minister should
have given proper consideration
to the climate change impacts
of the proposed coal-fired
power station before a decision
could have been made to allow
it to go ahead.
Welcome
Makoma Lekalakala of ELA says:
“We welcome this judgement,
which sends a strong message
to government and to all
developers proposing projects
with potentially significant climate
change impacts in South Africa
that permission cannot be given
for such projects unless the
climate change impacts have
been properly assessed. South
Africa is a water-stressed country,
and the Waterberg, where the
power station would be located,
is a particularly water-stressed
area. Climate impacts are a
big deal for communities and
farmers who depend on the
limited water available.”
The Centre for Environmental
Rights (CER) on behalf of
ELA, submitted comments on
Thabametsi’s
draft
climate
change impact assessment on 27
February 2017. The final climate
change impact assessment is
due to be submitted to the DEA
and made available for final
comment, this month.
CER attorney Nicole Loser
notes: “A climate change impact
assessment requires far more
than just an assessment of the
proposed project’s greenhouse
gas emissions. Climate change
is going to have significant
impacts for South Africa’s water
availability and will result in
extreme weather events such
as floods and droughts. We
are very relieved that the court
has recognised the need for an
assessment of the power station’s
contribution and exposure to
these impacts.”
Give full consideration
upon the Minister to give full
and proper consideration to
Thabametsi’s climate change
impacts - which the project’s
environmental consultants have
found will be significant - in
making a decision on whether to
uphold Earthlife’s appeal.”
Together with groundWork, ELA
and the CER form part of the Life
After Coal/Impilo Ngaphandle
Kwamalahle campaign, which
aims to: discourage investment
in
new
coal-fired
power
stations and mines, accelerate
the retirement of SA’s coal
infrastructure; and enable a just
transition to renewable energy.
A copy of the judgement is
available here: http://cer.org.za/
wp-content/uploads/2017/03/
Judgment-Earthlife-Thabametsi-
Final-06-03-2017.pdf
The order of the court is
available here:
http://cer.org.za/wp-content/
uploads/2017/03/Judgment-
Earthlife-Thabametsi-
Final-06-03-2017.pdf
Lekalakala says: “We now call
What happened at the hearing of SA’s
first climate change case
In South Africa’s first climate change court case, non-profit environmental justice organisation Earthlife Africa
Johannesburg (ELA), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, presented compelling arguments to the North
Gauteng High Court why the Minister of Environmental Affairs’ decision to uphold the environmental authorisation for
the proposed T