Page 5 - Off Coal News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

But that outspokenness would soon get him in trouble. in fact, as we'll see in a moment, it would get him poisoned. the pressure to break south africa's dependence on coal has been building for years and yet, south ofjohannesburg, machines the size of apartment blocks still scrape at the earth to expose more rich seams. south africa is addicted to coal. right now, 85% of all the power consumed in this country comes from burning this stuff — that's compared with less than 2% in somewhere like the uk — which is why this relatively small economy is still one of the world's great c02 emitters....

Difficult and very dangerous. we're heading to a town called emalahleni. the word itself means "place of coal". if you want to understand south africa's energy crisis, this is a good place to start. the town is surrounded by mines and by criminal gangs fighting for a slice of the coal industry. with us in the car, a local guide wary of being identified. so we're coming just to the edge here of what is an illegal mine, an illegal coal mine? yeah. i'm just going to go around the corner here — is that 0k? we're told there are at least 60 so—called black sites in this region where coal is stol...

We hear gunshots. gunshots. even they are fighting amongst themselves. the different gangs? yes. we need to be careful, then. yes. because there's so much money at stake... yes. ..that they will kill for it. they'll do that. let's see if we can try and talk to one of the truck drivers with the coal, once they've left this area. is it quite a dangerous business to be involved in? yeah, sometimes it is because you don't know whether the mine is illegal or legal. and then, you take your truck to that mine only to find out that that mine is illegal. localjournalists investigating the gangs run hug...

In coal country. when she struggles with breathing, it's very hard cos she'll be quiet, she won't eat, she won't talk, she won't do anything. official information about pollution levels here is curiously hard to get but leaked studies suggest this province is among the most polluted places on earth and that the coal industry is killing thousands of people every year. my wish is they have to cancel the coal so that we can breathe clean air. do you think they will? they must. they must cancel the coal because it is killing us. this coal is killing us. these local campaigners say the government i...

It's... sobs. for me, i can't even explain the feeling inside. and it's been long talking about this but it doesn't come up into terms where i can swallow it. it's painful. so, nothing changes? nothing changes. but change might be coming. south africa is big and sunny. it has vast wind and solar potential. and western nations are now backing something called a just energy transition — an $8 billion plan to help wean south africa off coal. we have a vast, abundant energy source freely available to us,