Environmental Focus
Loan deals pour in but power station plans unclear
As SA inked deals with three global banking institutions last week for concessional financing to support the country's Just Energy Transition, the government admitted it has no clear plan for the decommissioning of coal-fired power stations, a key pillar ...
Read More
South Africa
R14.25m mining SLAPP action partially resolved
Just over half of the claims in a long-running R14.25m SLAPP defamation action brought by Australian mining interests against six SA environmentalists and social activists have been settled out of court. The terms of the settlement agreement are confidential ...
Read More
Greenlight for Karpowership in Saldanha Bay, but ...
Karpowership SA says it has been granted environmental authorisation for its proposed Saldanha Bay project, according to Fin24. The 320MW plant is one of three floating gas power plants that were awarded preferred bidder status in the Risk Mitigation IPP ...
Read More
Just Share spotlights banks' decarbonisation failures
Standard Bank has seven directors that have potential conflicts of interest regarding their roles at fossil fuel companies and the bank’s commitment to managing climate risk issues, says Just Share in a new study that spotlights key roles that the ...
Read More
Class action lawsuit launched against Exxaro
Sasol invests in Free State solar farm
SA a wildlife crime hotspot in region
Beach upgrade levy dispute heads for SCA
uMhlanga residents mull legal action over outages
Robben Island water scarcity problem continues
Political parties skirmish in Parliament
Temporary reprieve in Overberg gold mine battle
Bid to overturn protection order thrown out
V&A desalination plant stand-off heads for arbitration
Expert punts wastewater as a water source
Some Durban beaches lose Blue Flag status
SA heads list of most sustainable African countries
Sapvia unveils solar PV database
Legalbrief Policy Watch
SA concludes Just Energy Transition deal
SA has signed loan agreements with the World Bank, Germany and the African Development Bank for concessional financing to support the country’s Just Energy Transition in line with the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan. A Policy Watch report notes that ...
Read More
Analysis
SA risks plunging into a sanitation quagmire
‘Sanitation is essential for survival. According to the UN, 4.2bn people live without safe sanitation, while 673m still practise open defecation and 3bn lack basic handwashing facilities. This sanitation crisis means that untreated or poorly treated human sewage is ...
Read More
Africa
Nigerian communities may sue Shell, court rules
The Nigerian High Court has ruled that 13 000 Nigerian fishermen and farmers at the centre of a major oil pollution case against Shell can bring claims for breaches of their right to a clean environment under Nigerian constitutional law ...
Read More
Mozambique angles for energy transition funding
Mozambique’s Government has approved a strategy to reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels that it estimates will cost $80bn to implement by 2050, a step aimed at winning finance to develop the economy. An Engineering News report notes that ...
Read More
World
World on track for 2.5°-2.9°C rise in temperature
The latest Emissions Gap Report from the UN Environment Programme (Unep), released last week, has found that current pledges under the Paris Agreement will put the world on track for a 2.5°-2.9°C rise above pre-industrial temperature levels ...
Read More
Call for better funding for small-scale farmers
Ahead of COP28, the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) urges global leaders to shift gears and drastically and urgently scale-up climate finance for small-scale farmers and small agribusinesses, who produce one-third of the world's food and ...
Read More
Global plastic pollution talks end inconclusively
The third round of UN global plastic pollution treaty talks has ended with no plan for how to move the negotiations forward, despite a majority of countries supporting a robust treaty grounded in global rules. A Cape Times report quotes ...
Read More
Mining giant must face Fundão dam burst trial
Canada bans trade in ivory and rhino horn
Clothing waste fuelling Cambodian kilns
Enviro Briefs
Hippo attacks, kills game ranger
* A game ranger was attacked and killed by a hippo last week while on foot patrol at Mkhuze Game Reserve in northern KZN. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife acting CEO Sihle Mkhize said Sphamandla Phiwayinkosi Mthembu was attacked on Sunday.
Read More
Huge abalone busts made in Cape Town
* Maitland flying squad members have made two huge abalone busts in Cape Town. The two separate busts were made on the N2 freeway. In the first incident, a man was nabbed in possession of abalone worth R900 000. Later, a ...
Read More
Side Bars
Zero Carbon Charge builds EV charging network
R1.8bn EV charging station networkZero Carbon Charge has started construction on a national network of 100% renewable energy-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. At a ceremony in Wolmaransstad in the North West Province, Zero Carbon Charge broke ground on its ...
Read More
UCT's Water Hub wins Eco-Logic Award
Award for UCT Water HubUCT's Water Hub recently won the 2023 Gold Eco-Logic Award, which identify individuals, organisations and communities that positively contribute towards a sustainable world. Dr Kevin Winter from UCT's Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and ...
Read More