Photo by: Reuters
Three civil society groups have taken the South African government to court over its plan to build 1 500 MW of new coal capacity in line with the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019. In September, lawyers for groundWork, the African Climate Alliance and the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action wrote to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa demanding that the plan be scrapped. After not receiving a response, litigation was launched this month on the basis that the plants would violate the constitutional right to an environment not harmful to health and wellbeing. Photograph: Reuters