Environmental justice groups groundWork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), have filed a review application to challenge the decision to uphold an environmental authorisation, granted in November 2022, for the proposed 2 000 MW Phakwe gas power plant in Richards Bay.

The groups say the plant is guaranteed to cause climate harm.

The review application against the proposed Phakwe gas plant questions the way the decision-makers found that the guaranteed climate change harm that the Phakwe project would cause was acceptable when contrasted with the potential climate change benefit it could bring, they say.

The applicants argue that this reliance on an unknown future benefit to justify a known harm is an error of law, and, therefore, these decisions are unlawful and ought to be set aside by the High Court.

“The 2 000 MW gas-to-power plant is the latest in a series of new power plants proposed for the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (IDZ). All these proposed power plants are currently being challenged in the High Court or at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) by civil society groups on grounds that there are more efficient, affordable and less harmful clean energy alternatives available, which could be online far sooner.

“Most energy experts and modellers agree that baseload gas-to-power, which is what this plant would be, is not necessary or appropriate for the South African electricity system,” the climate organisations aver.

“Decision-makers have relied on a speculative future possibility that gas-powered stations could displace coal. The decision-makers failed to consider relevant information, namely that any climate change benefit is highly speculative,” says groundWork climate and energy justice campaign manager Yegeshni Moodley.

Gas is incompatible with a safe climate future, as methane and carbon dioxide are significant contributors to global warming and climate disruption. These two greenhouse gases are the two most important for the rate of warming observed over the past few decades, with 25% of all warming observed to date ascribed to methane, the climate organisations say.

In addition to the fact that such high-emission projects contribute to climate change harms, Phakwe and other gas plants also pose a threat to public health arising from air pollution. Plans for at least six gas power plants in Richards Bay would also have a detrimental effect on air quality, which has already been identified as a problem in the area.

“Climate change has resulted in widespread harm to the environment, human health and well-being from more frequent and intense storms, droughts, heatwaves, and other climatic events, including in South Africa.

“When addressing the Durban floods of 2022, which claimed 448 lives, President Cyril Ramaphosa attributed the floods to climate change, noting that we could no longer 'postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change',” says SDCEA office coordinator Desmond D’Sa.

Interested parties have 15 days from February 29 to oppose the case and provide the records that were before Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy when she made her decision, the organisations say.