Climate Change Hearings, Sasol on Trial

Press Release

7 September 2009

On Thursday the 10th of Sept. 2009, a trial on Sasol's climate change crimes will be held outside of Sasol's Rosebank headquarters (1 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg). The trial will begin at 10:00am and end at 2:00pm. Spectators will be pouring in from all across Gauteng and surrounds to witness Sasol being charged and prosecuted for contributing to climate change.

The charge sheet is lengthy, and witnesses from communities adjacent to Sasol's plants will present evidence to a panel of judges. In particular, Sasol will be charged with the following:

1) Producing 75.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually – about 21% of South Africa’s total greenhouse gas emissions per year

2) Owning the single largest emitter of CO2 at its Secunda plant

3) Lying to obtain CDM funding - Sasol applied for CDM funding for their plans to build a natural gas pipeline from Mozambique and use that gas in its CTL plants. As there was credible evidence that the plant would have converted to natural gas regardless of benefits under the CDM system. There were plans before the 2000 cut off date required for applications for CDM funding - on 30 March 2009 - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) methodologies panel, which reviews Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project applications, rejected Sasol’s application to register its feedstock conversion project.

4) Wanting to increase GHG emissions rather than decrease - Sasol is planning to build a new 80,000 barrels/day coal-to-liquids plant in South Africa. This would add an estimated 23 to 37 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on an annual basis.

5) Fixing prices of its goods, both in South Africa and Europe - In May 2009, the SA Competition Commission announced that Sasol must pay a fine of R250.68 million as a penalty for price fixing in the fertiliser and phosphoric acid sectors. Internationally, Sasol was fined €318 million by the European Commission last year for its role in a paraffin wax price-fixing cartel.

6) Investing in Carbon Capture and Storage – Instead of investing in renewable energy, Sasol has been exploring the development of CCS at many of its plants. CCS does not provide a log terms solution to GHG emissions as it creates a false belief of “CO2 out of sight out of mind”.

Please join us at this climate change hearing. The future of our planet is dependent upon organisations like Sasol changing their errant behaviour. Please see background below.

For more information, please contact:

Makoma Lekalakala
Programme Officer
Earthlife Africa Jhb
Tel: +27 11 339 3662
Fax: +27 11 339 3270
Cell: +27 82 682 9177
Email: makoma@earthlife.org.za
Website: www.earthlife.org.za

Tristen Taylor
Project Co-ordinator
Earthlife Africa Jhb
Tel: +27 11 339-3662
Cell: +27 84 250-2434
Email: tristen@earthlife.org.za
Website: www.earthlife.org.za

Background on Sasol and Climate Change

Sasol is one of the worst emitters of GHG on the African continent. Sasol is a South African company involved in mining, energy, chemicals and synfuels. In particular, they produce petrol and diesel from coal and natural gas. The company not only has plants at Sasolburg and Secunda in South Africa, but also extend their area of influence all across the globe – and extends to more than 20 countries and exports to over 100. In addition the company has pursued international partnerships with some of the worst polluters on the planet including Qatar Petroleum, Chevron and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Given that South Africa is the world’s most carbon intensive economy and Sasol’s Secunda plant is the world’s single biggest emitter of CO2, one would expect a greater commitment by Sasol to reduce its GHG emissions. Sasol’s turnover as at June 2008 was R129,943 Million. The marketing and distribution budget was R6,931 Million and GHG management was a mere R60 Million. In terms of a percentage of turnover, Sasol’s response to GHG emissions was a mere 0.04%. It seems that it is more important for Sasol to market itself as doing good rather than actually doing good.

END