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Give coal the red card

Eskom, a South African energy company is calling for a loan from the World Bank.

The US$3.75 billion loan would be to fund the Medupi coal-fired power plant.

Red card

groundWork (Friends of the Earth South Africa) opposes the Medupi project. As do many other South African civil society organisations.

They are asking for the UK to use its influence to prevent the deal going ahead.

The Medupi plant would:

  • Release 25 million tonnes of CO2 per year for decades.
  • Significantly impact the health, land, air and water of local communities.
  • Mostly supply energy for industrial users, not communities.

The World Bank's own expert panel has raised a number of serious concerns about the environmental impacts of the project.

These have not been sufficiently dealt with to date.

The Department for International Development's clean energy targets for the World Bank would be impossible to meet in supporting this project.

This project would also demonstrate that the World Bank has no role in the administration of international climate finance.

The project

Eskom's proposal is not in the interests of poor communities in South Africa.

Approving the loan undermines both them and the global fight against climate change.

Email Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development and Susanna Moorehead, Executive Director, UK, World Bank.

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Dear Secretary of State,


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Last modified: June 2010