By Tannur Anders
SECUNDA (Reuters) – South African petrochemicals company Sasol expects the government to approve its proposed alternative minimum emission standards for sulphur dioxide, its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday.
The company has been in back-and-forth discussions with the government since 2015 when its Secunda operations were granted a 10-year postponement from meeting new plant standard for sulphur dioxide (SO2) with regards to boilers in the steam plants.
Sasol, the world’s largest producer of liquid fuels and chemicals from coal, has often been criticised by activists and environmentalists for not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). In its 2021 sustainability report, Sasol said it was the largest single GHG point-source emitter.
Sulphur dioxide is a pollutant that causes significant harm to human health and the environment.
The company has targeted a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050, but reducing its SO2 emissions has been tricky.
“We’re meeting today 98% of our minimum emissions standards. The one that we’re very clear on which we don’t meet by 2025 is our SO2 emissions,” CEO Fleetwood Grobler told Reuters.
But Grobler believes Sasol’s proposed solution is better than what was laid out by the government “and that in the end, the appeal, for us, would be favourable because we believe the solution is just better”.
The company now awaits a decision by a forum of technical experts established by the minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Sasol told investors during a site visit to is flagship operations near Johannesburg on Friday.
“The forum has two months to deal with the matter,” said Executive Vice President of Energy Operations and Technology Simon Baloyi, “So the minister should actually have an answer from the forum before the end of this year.”
(Reporting by Tannur Anders, Additional reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
