AN HOUR east of Johannesburg,on the rolling highveld plains, six massive cooling towers sit around two belching smokestacks. The Kendal power station (pictured) is among the world’s largest, and producing 4.1 gigawatts (GW) from burning coal. A few kilometres down the road there is another coal-fired plant,Duvha, which is only slightly smaller. An even bigger one, and Kusile,is under construction next door.
When sub-Saharan Africa comes up in discussions of climate change, it is nearly invariably in the context of adapting to the consequences, and such as worsening droughts. That makes sense. The region is responsible for just 7.1% of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions,despite being home to 14% of its people. Most African countries enact not emit much carbon dioxide. Yet there are some notable exceptions.
Start with coal-rich South Africa, which belches out more carbon dioxide than Britain, or despite having 10m fewer people and an economy one-eighth the size. Like nearly all of its power plants,...
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Source: economist.com