Cape Town, South Africa, 21 November 2018 — It comes as no surprise that the Department of Environmental Affairs has taken the position of defending mega-polluters on air pollution in Parliament today. Greenpeace Africa was invited to present its groundbreaking satellite analysis data, NO2 Global Mapping Report, to the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs. Eskom, Sasol and the department were given an opportunity to directly respond to the report released on October 29th.

“The Department of Environmental Affairs’ denial of the air pollution crisis is a real disconnect from what is happening on the ground and how serious the state thinks it is. The department, together with mega-polluters Eskom and Sasol shouldn’t be allowed to shrug off the findings that Mpumalanga is home to the worst NO2 pollution hotspot in the world. The NO2 levels measured in the area over the period for which we have data from the new-generation satellite were higher than any other region of similar size in the world. In particular, the levels were higher than any industrial or power plant cluster found in China, for both NO2 and SO2” said Happy Khambule, Senior Political Advisor for Greenpeace Africa.

Greenpeace unveiled additional data in the hearing showing the massive SO2 hotspot in Mpumalanga. Recently, the department ‘secretly’ granted Eskom a sudden doubling of the sulphur dioxide emission limit without public consultation, something that Parliament became aware of today, during the Air Pollution Enquiry.

“Mr Mohlopi Mapulane, the Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs has made it clear that something extraordinary must be done to deal with the air pollution problem in Mpumalanga, and that the committee has a significant problem with the weakening of SO2 Minimum Emission Standards in SA and the Department cannot proceed with weakening the standards.

Although we are very disappointed that the Department of Environmental Affairs would choose to ignore our Constitutional right to a healthy environment in the face of an air pollution crisis, we welcome the Committee’s oversight duties by requesting for the department to report back on the issue”, added Khambule.

As Greenpeace Africa we are quite positive that the recommendations made by the Committee will ensure that the impact on people’s lives will no longer be in dispute. It’s clear that we have a national crisis and the fact that we have been a hotspot for sometime now is not something to be proud of – we need an urgent solution.

A copy of the presentation is available here, the Global Mapping Report Briefing can be viewed here and the analysis available here.

Media Contact:

Happy Khambule, Climate & Energy Campaign Senior Political Advisor – Greenpeace Africa, [email protected], 072 064 753 3442

Oliver Meth, Communications Specialist – Greenpeace Africa, [email protected], 060 604 6690