LETTER: Sasol sidesteps emissions cuts

It is 32 years since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed, signalling global agreement that climate change must be addressed, and nearly 10 years since the Paris climate agreement.

Yet Sasol has barely decreased emissions, from 65-million tonnes in 2015 to 64-million tonnes last year (“Sasol is not changing its emissions targets, says CEO”, November 13).

Its carbon emissions have increased annually since 2020. Sasol is No 56 of the 57 carbon majors responsible for 80% of carbon emissions since 2015. It has never met its own targets for restricting any category of pollutants. And its fossil gas pivot is a disaster. New research shows LNG gas is more carbon-intensive than coal — 33% worse over a 20-year period, according to researchers at Cornell University. 

The company apparently bullies regulators; it opposed the carbon tax and forced its own standards onto its sulphur dioxide reporting. Its huge “research” spending (often de facto greenwashing) — at least R40m for the years 2022-27 through the National Research Foundation — leaves so many researchers beholden to the Sasol dime that much research on the energy transition in SA may be untrustworthy.

Sasol’s 2050 net-zero target is meaningless. Current management cannot be held accountable for such distant dates. The target is badly outdated when assessed against rapidly worsening climate impacts and emerging science. Yes, Sasol employs nearly 30,000 people, yet International Labour Organisation figures show that by 2030 every current job in the fossil fuel industry will destroy four jobs worldwide via climate disasters that are already badly hurting African economies in particular.

It is mass self-delusion for SA policymakers, obsequious journalists and asset managers to continue treating Sasol as a company serious about emissions reductions. Look past the greenwash, the sustainability reports, the cynical CSI spend and the new energy research that never gets out of the labs, and Sasol is just another unrepentant climate criminal clawing out declining profits for a few at enormous cost to the rest of us.

David Le Page
Director, Fossil Free SA

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.​