The Thabametsi coal-fired power plant that was to be developed in Lephalale, Limpopo, has officially been withdrawn by its sponsors; Marubeni and KEPCO. The plant won’t be built.

350Africa.org campaigns for public finance institutions like the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to stop funding fossil fuels. We campaigned with your help to stop the DBSA financing Thabametsi, and in 2019 their mandate to finance the plant expired.

The collapse of this climate-killing project is the good news we all need to hear during these challenging COVID days. Plus, this means South Africa has saved 12.57 billion rands – funds that should be used towards building back better, towards a just recovery from Covid-19.

This was a long and challenging fight, but thanks to the work of many people and organisations we can finally celebrate. Our comrades from the Centre of Environmental Rights, Earthlife Africa, Just Share, groundWork, Earthjustice as well as community-based organizations and individuals worked tirelessly to stop the coal-fired power plant and we thank you for your commitment.

The DBSA missed the opportunity to proactively distance themselves from this power plant, a project that would have been a disaster for our climate. We will continue to call on them and other South African public finance institutions to commit to stop funding fossil fuels, and put their full weight behind a just transition to renewable energy.