Sasol one of world’s worst CO2 emitters

Sasol is on the list of 57 big companies that produced 80% of the world’s CO2 emissions from 2016 to 2022, according to a new report from the Carbon Majors database earlier this month. Sasol is ranked at 56. Carbon Majors is a database of historic production data from 122 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal, and cement producers. GroundUp reports that the top emitters from 2016 to 2022 are Chinese state-owned coal companies (grouped as one in the report), Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Coal India, and National Iranian Oil Company. Despite the Paris Agreement on climate change signed in 2015, carbon emissions by many of the fossil fuel companies on the Carbon Majors list have increased in the past seven years compared to the seven years before. In 2023 world CO2 emissions increased to a record-high, according to the International Energy Agency. Sasol’s total emissions increased slightly in 2023 from 2022 to over 64 000 kilotons of CO2, according to its 2023 Climate Change report.

Sasol said in the report that the increase in total emissions was due to ‘higher production rates, as well as process inefficiencies, external power interruptions and shortage of natural gas’. The company said that in 2024, production levels are expected to increase, resulting in further increased emissions at its Secunda operations. Spokesperson Matebello Motloung told GroundUp that the company has achieved an approximate 5% reduction from its 2017 baseline ‘through ongoing mitigation interventions’. However, this figure does not include its Natref refinery emissions nor its Mozambique operations. Sasol has committed to reduce greenhouse gases by 30% by 2030 and reach Net Zero emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement. In terms of the Paris Agreement, which was signed by SA, emissions must be reduced to zero by 2050 in order to keep global temperature limited to a 1.5°C increase.