The Green Connection and Natural Justice (3 February) made its submission on the scoping process of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the proposed offshore Block 11B/12B production right and environmental authorisation project for TotalEnergies EP South Africa (TEEPSA), as part of the public participation process.

Brussels / Paris / Berlin / South Africa, 7 February 2023 – On the eve of the announcement of TotalEnergies’ annual results, five winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize called on financial institutions to stop supporting the French major’s oil and gas expansion in Africa which tramples on climate, biodiversity and human rights. This week they presented their call in the European Parliament.

Three weeks into the New Year and South Africa’s energy crisis – the recent announcement of yet
another above-inflation electricity price increase amid increased and persistent loadshedding – has plunged the country into chaos. And while there is a strong call to sue the government and Eskom for loadshedding, two civil society organisations are instead going straight to the source of one of the essential problems with energy planning in South Africa – that a critical piece of legislation has not been brought into operation by the President.

In the midst of the 16 Days of Activism campaign, small-scale fisherwomen from around the country not only have to deal with the gender-based violence issues that plague the women in the country, but they also have to fight to protect their livelihoods from the onslaught of proposed oil and gas projects.

Last week (7 December 2022), people – concerned citizens from Port Nolloth in Northern Cape to Saldanha and Cape Town to Knysna and Beaufort West in Western Cape, all the way to Gqeberha and Xolobeni Eastern Cape, Durban and Richards Bay in KZN and even inland in Johannesburg – came out to peacefully protest the Total Destruction of the ocean and to demand an end of the exploration and extraction of any new climate change-escalating fossil fuel projects.

COP27, the international climate action negotiations, ran from 6-18 November 2022 and yet, in that time, fossil fuel companies have released a stream of oil and gas application documents for public comment.

Much like the climate, frustration about the lack of tangible action from COP27 is heating up. In its first “Lunchtime Briefing” (held on 9 November) to unpack its opposition of offshore oil and gas – fossil fuels with carbon and methane emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change – The Green Connection and partners explained how oil and gas exploration also risks harm to marine species and functioning ecosystems, which in turn affects the wellbeing of coastal communities and small-scale fishers by putting their livelihoods and food security at risk.

With just days away from COP27 – where world leaders, including from South Africa, will discuss
proposed global climate action commitments – The Green Connection says that without an integrated energy plan (IEP) that marks a clear pathway for decarbonisation in the energy sector, the country’s climate commitments will be nothing more than hot air.

In November, COP27 sees world leaders and other important decision-makers meet to discuss global efforts to address the climate crisis. Recent press reports have revealed that the country is the world’s 13th biggest source of climate-warming greenhouse gases and has pledged to reduce these emissions to net zero by 2050.