Rolling blackouts last year helped South Africa’s sulphur dioxide emissions to drop by about 15%, reaching an all-time low on the 15-year record.
The decline in sulphur dioxide is encouraging, say the authors, but warn that this pollution “continues to threaten the health of billions of people”. For South Africa, preliminary analysis indicates the decrease in SO₂ emissions coincides with load-shedding episodes caused by the loss of power generation capacity, according to the report. “However, that could be one among several factors. Further investigation is required to better understand the reasons for that decrease.”
The 12 coal-fired power stations in the province, located just 100km to 200km from South Africa’s most populated area, the Gauteng City-Region “pose a significant health threat to local residents”, according to the report.