Visiting Some of the World's Biggest Coal Sites in South Africa

Inside the climate negotiations people talk about pollution, energy access, and deadly climate disruption, but too often they never take the time to see it for themselves just outside the COP location. Durban is less than two hours away from the world's largest coal exports terminal at Richard's Bay, which ships 91 million tons of the dirtiest fuel every year. There are a lot of "world's biggest" projects when it comes to coal in South Africa, and Richard's Bay is a preview into what is happening deeper in the country. I joined Bobby Peek, the director of groundWork South Africa, and traveled to the Highveld region in Mpumalanga Province to see for myself the destruction coal is wreaking on the people and their land.

The Highveld region has a special connection to the United States, as our government financed over $800 million to build the 4,800 MW Kusile coal-fired power station there, despite the fact that the region already exceeds South African standards for sulfur and other deadly pollution due to the multiple coal-fired plants nearby. Once completed, Kusile and its twin the Medupi plant in Limpopo province (which received a $3.75 billion loan from the World Bank) will be the third and fourth largest coal-fired power plants in the world.

But Highveld is no stranger to massive coal projects. The South African public utility Eskom still advertises its 4,116 MW Kendal Power Station as the world’s biggest operating coal-fired plant, and the nearby Sasol coal-to-liquids facility is the world’s largest single source of greenhouse-gas emissions. The resulting pollution from these projects damages the fertile farmland and endangers residents as it encroaches from both above and below in the form of acid rain and underground coal fires (pdf). Meanwhile, the tunnels left by underground coal mines are now filled with petroleum as part of South Africa's Strategic Fuel Fund.

Will COP17 Deliver on Technology Transfer?

We're at the plate.  Will the negotiators and ministers connect for a homerun or will it be a swing and a miss?

Ever since the Technology Mechanism (TM) was defined in the Cancun Agreement to consist of two bodies, the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and the Climate Technology Center and Network (CTCN), the discussion of the character of each has been debated. Based on the names alone, one might believe that the former would be a high-level decision-making body and the latter a functioning body composed of a core "center" and a network of organizations that provide Technology Transfer (TT) related services to developing countries. But agreement on the body names has not come close to entailing agreement on body functions. 

Somehow, some parties came into the 2011 intercessionals with the idea that the TEC's role in the TM was to be a "think tank" of experts with no role in "executing" any action at all, while the "host" of the center would be the sole operational body making essentially all of the TM's important decisions. This caused chagrin among some parties who were concerned that a single body, especially one operated by a host which is not a UNFCCC body, might have priorities not strictly in line with UNFCCC principles.

The Sierra Club in Durban: Day Ten

While the Sierra Club has been very active in the space outside the negotiations -- building relationships with partners and activists working on the same issues in their home countries, participating in side panels, and staging visibility events -- our staff and volunteers have also been reviewing draft text, writing interventions, meeting with delegates, and delving into the thick of the negotiations though our work with international partners as part of the Climate Action Network (CAN).

The Sierra Club in Durban: The Africaravan

While negotiators puzzled over economic figures and postured on their country's politics, activists from across Sub-Saharan Africa came to Durban to demonstrate to the COP 17 negotiators the power of their own communities. They traveled hundreds of miles for weeks on the "Africaravan" buses to gather outside the COP and remind negotiator who is affected most by climate inaction. Hundreds attended an anti-coal event hosted by a German energy foundation and Earthlife Africa at the People's Space outside the COP to learn about Germany's anti-coal efforts and the many coal project struggles around South Africa. 

Many know that while the UNFCC negotiations are a slow and difficult process, it is still a necessary one. However, it is events like this Earthlife Africa gathering that reflect the real forces for change. We cannot hope to affect our governments or create responsible commerce without knowing each other, learning our struggles, and immersing ourselves in our differences and commonalities -- and what our cultures bring to the table in this shared effort. 

COP 17: Picking Up the Pace

The UN climate negotiations are winding up, with foreign ministers arriving. The negotiating tracks on the wide range of issues from mitigation, finance and the green climate fund, adaptation, and other issues are producing language that could result in an outcome in Durban that helps facilitate international collaboration on combating climate change. But the progress so far is slow and incomplete compared to the needed reductions to avert the catastrophic impacts of global climate change. 

At the center of the debate is the commitment to reduce emissions, and how the parties interpret the UN Framework Convention's language of "common but differentiated responsibilities," a principle that recognizes that developed countries such as the United States should bear a greater reduction responsibility than developing countries. Meanwhile, the United States bargaining position calls for "legal symmetry," or an equivalent legal form of commitments, for agreement. 

Sierra Club's efforts to advocate for standards on clean cars and fuel, greenhouse gas standards from power plants, and other measures under EPA authority are likely enough to achieve the 14-17 percent if the Obama Administration can implement them, but we have to push beyond that, moving beyond coal and toward renewable energy. The science indicates that current pledges under the Cancun Agreements amount to global emissions of 55 billion tons of CO2 in 2020, which is 11 billion tons above meeting the 2 degree target. This level of emissions leaves us headed toward a temperature rise of 3.5 degrees Celsius (6.3 degrees F), which will lead to extreme storms and heat events, damaged water and agricultural systems, sea level rise, and air quality and public health impacts. 

The Sierra Club in Durban: Day Nine

While nothing can compare with yesterday's experiences of hearing peoples' struggles against coal in their communities around the world, or the look on the face of the World Coal Association's Chair when we showed up at his panel in "Beyond Coal" t-shirts, we still had another busy and insightful day at the COP.

The day opened with a panel including Justin Guay about whether or not the U.S. was actually reducing carbon emissions. The SSCers joined other U.S. youth delegation members in a great roundtable and planning meeting with Chinese youth delegation members to discuss future collaborations outside the COP, and how to maintain momentum and share strategies given the very different contexts of each country. Some meaningful strategies were identified, and stronger relationships established.

Once again, tabling yielded great conversations and discoveries. As one example, two women who work in the clinic for the COP 17 were taking a break and talked with us for a while the pollution from refineries and other petrochemical development at the Durban port, and pointed out the cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses coal causes. Two employees of the Secretariat were making the rounds and acknowledged they hadn't quite considered the urgency of climate change until they began work at the COP -- and hadn't appreciated what a big role coal plays in causing it. Our presence is helping to amplify that!

The Sierra Club in Durban: Day Eight

At a COP, it's easy to get wrapped up in the policy and the negotiations, and lose sight of who's really affected by climate change, pollution, and energy access. But if you take the time to talk to people –- not just the people you came with or the people working on your issues, but the people who are here to advocate for their communities –- a whole new world opens up.

Today was the first day the Sierra Club booth was up in the exhibition hall. After only a few hours in, we had met people from around the world fighting to protect their communities from coal projects -- just like we do in the U.S. 

We met a man from Thailand who said that his country kicked out coal but now faces new "clean" plants as part of a development strategy. He was eager to learn the truth about carbon capture and storage, "clean" coal, and ways to fight them.

We met a women's activist from Limpopo, South Africa who works with the Venda. She told us about their struggle to stop a coal mine. Developers have resorted to threatening community members that oppose the project.

And we met a man from Indonesia who works on forest issues in a country heavily impacted by coal mining.

The Sierra Club's Weekend in Durban

Nothing slows down in Durban, even during the weekend! While the negotiations continued inside the conference on Saturday, the people took to the streets for a Global Day of Action. But this year's day of action was special, as activists from across sub-Saharan Africa came to Durban to engage with the negotiations.

The Caravan of Hope started in Burundi and gained momentum as it picked up people. Similarly, the We Have Faith started in Kenya and bought young people of faith to the conference, while the Climate Train wound its way around South Africa. Many of the participants were not able to receive accreditation to get into the conference. But this crisis involves their lives, their families, and their communities, which will get the worst of climate change. They came to tell the world to act now before it is too late.

At the march, the South African Waste Pickers Association sang and danced next to U.S. students and European activists, while the Rural Women's Alliance marched next to members of the Landless People's Movement. The Sierra Club was a visible presence. Activists joined us during the procession of our coal coffin, which made the news. Together, we worked our way across Durban, the conference center, and the nearby beach for closing speeches.

On Sunday, the negotiators took the day off, but not the Sierra Club. Our activists participated in all-day strategy meetings, met with delegates, and even traveled to Richard's Bay to visit the world's largest coal export terminal.

-- article and pictures by Nicole Ghio

The Sierra Club in Durban: Day Five

Friday is fun-day for the Sierra Club delegation at COP 17. After the success of last year's Heads in the Sand event at COP 16 in Cancun, we staged a second event on the beach in Durban this morning to highlight governments that continue to bury their heads in the sand and block critical action at the negotiations –- with a few COP 17 twists.

The SSC brought the youth out in force this morning, including representatives from the Canadian Youth who came in their corporate logo blazers to protest Canada's stance in Durban. While most of us pinned flags on our backs and buried our heads in the sand to represent the lack of action, the Canadians buried their heads in black lined holes to represent tar sands. At the back, activists held windmills and solar panels to represent the clean energy that can safely power our future. Once again, the media was out in force snapping pictures and doing interviews.

Despite foot dragging by governments like the U.S. and Canada, progress is being made. Following up on yesterday's successful energy-access discussion with Carl Pope and Mary Robinson, Sierra Club delegates participated in a distributed solar demonstration by EcoNet Wireless to counter the myth that the only way to electrify rural communities with distributed solar is to give it away. Aside from the fact that the expensive kerosene the poor are often forced to use as fuel is already subsidized in many parts of the world –- and the fact that this money could go toward distributed renewable energy –- mobile networks offer an innovative way for users to pay for renewable energy in small amounts that work out to be cheaper than the kerosene they buy.

The Sierra Club in Durban: Day Four

Today was a whirlwind day for the Sierra Club delegation in Durban! We held not one, but two funerals for coal to demonstrate that coal is no longer cheap or reliable anywhere in the world. In the U.S. we have turned away from coal, in large part because the Sierra Club and our allies have stopped virtually all of the proposed coal-fired power plants proposed by the Bush Administration. We have come to Durban to ally with other civil society groups around the world in our campaign to confront the dominance of the coal and oil industries.

Our first funeral was at the Speakers Corner, the public space designated for protest, open to both credentialed attendees and the public who wants to engage the COP. We showed our solidarity with activists from around the world who gathered to protest World Bank financing for fossil fuels immediately after. Our black coffin for coal with its four pallbearers were followed by a grieving widow, who looked suspiciously like our six-foot-plus board member Jim Dougherty. Bringing up the rear was the clean-energy technology of the future, windmills and solar panels, and our student delegation, leading coal and climate chants. We had up to three interviews going on at once, led by our media mavens, Cesia Kearns and SSC delegate Heather Hatzenbuhler.

We began the slow adventure to get the materials into the COP itself. Despite getting previous approval, we had numerous stops and starts with security personnel. We re-assembled to do a smaller procession in the fifteen-by-nine-foot section the Secretariat allotted us inside the conference. There, in full view of the media section and negotiation building yards away, we reminded negotiators and the world of the devastating effect coal has on both the climate and on human health.