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The report, titled Major Air Polluters in Africa Unmasked, identifies Africa’s biggest economies - Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa – as the continent’s most polluted countries.

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 Sizwe sama Yende

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 Africa’s industrialised countries are facing a dilemma to stop operating toxic and air-polluting plants to save lives and reduce climate change or continue exposing their people and eventually kill them as they try to grow their economies.

The continent lags behind in industrial development, unlike the west, which has grown their economies for decades from fossil fuels. According to findings of a Greenpeace Africa and Greenpeace MENA report, the continent does not have much of a choice as polluted air accounts for 1.1 million premature deaths.

The report, titled Major Air Polluters in Africa Unmasked, identifies Africa’s biggest economies - Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa – as the continent’s most polluted countries.

It found that Africa is home to some of the worst nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide hotspots in the world, all of which are primarily linked to thermal power plants. The report also found that Eskom, a public utility company that has the government of South Africa as its sole shareholder, operates many of the most polluting plants in South Africa. There are nine in South Africa and one is found in Côte d'Ivoire.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), exposure to air pollution, including nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, can cause both short- and long-term health problems. These include heart and lung diseases, pregnancy problems, kidney issues and cancer.

Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, Dr Aidan Farrow, said that in many parts of Africa a lack of air quality monitoring had allowed pollution to remain hidden.

“However, there is abundant evidence that African nations face a serious public health crisis from air pollution. The root causes of this crisis are the air pollutant emitters. Data from satellites and even fuel sales in each country allow scientists to investigate emission sources. These data point towards the biggest hotspots, the biggest contributions to pollution and who is responsible for them. The data are clear, areas like Mpumalanga in South Africa, where coal burning for electricity is a major industry, really stand out,” Farrow said.

Fana Sibanyoni, an activist from Secunda in Mpumalanga, said that the report shed light on systemic injustice that fuelled unemployment and health disparities.  

"For too long, the people of Mpumalanga have borne the burden of South Africa's coal dependency, not just in the air we breathe but in the opportunities we're denied. The pollution from coal plants like those operated by Sasol in our region has not only tarnished our health, leading to failed health assessments and chronic diseases, but it has also clouded our future, leaving us jobless as companies opt to hire from outside, citing our 'unfitness' for work,” Sibanyoni said.

Key findings of the reports are that:

• Exposure to air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death in Africa (HEI 2022), and achieving World Health Organization guidelines could result in significant gains in life expectancy.
  
  
• Pollutant emissions lead to a considerable number of premature deaths in Africa. Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa consistently exhibit large disease burdens, with the highest mortality linked to fossil fuel air pollution in these nations.
  
  
• Six of the world’s ten largest nitrogen dioxide emission hotspots identified were found in Africa, all in South Africa.
  
  
• Two of the world’s ten largest sulphur dioxide emission hotspots identified are in South Africa.
  
  
• Of the ten largest sulphur dioxide point sources identified in Africa, nine are thermal power stations, and one is linked to a smelter complex in Mali. Four of the power plants are located in South Africa owned by Eskom, two in Morocco and Egypt, and one in Zimbabwe.

The reports says that health impact studies suggest that life expectancy could be improved by up to three years in some African nations if air quality met WHO guidelines.

It emphasises the need for investment in clean technologies, especially in the energy sector.

“Many of the causes of air pollution, such as the combustion of oil, coal, and gas, are also sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Policies aimed at reducing air pollution, therefore, offer a win-win strategy for both climate and health.”