South Africa is a hotspot for air pollution, which has caused thousands of deaths and other health consequences.
For context, data from Stats SA showed that 6,453 people died in road transport accidents in 2019 – roughly a quarter of all the number of people who died due to air pollution.said that the entire South African population is exposed to annual average PM2.5 concentrations that are above WHO guidelines, with children, the sick and the elderly the most at risk.
Gauteng, the North West, Free State, and Mpumalanga are the provinces with the worst exposure to PM2.5 pollution, which puts close to half of the total population at risk. Essentially, regulations state that groups like Sasol must limit their operations’ concentration of sulphur dioxide. Nevertheless, Sasol could address its emission targets by cutting its load instead.