{"id":859129,"date":"2026-05-10T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=859129"},"modified":"2026-05-10T19:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:52:37","slug":"50-year-old-town-in-south-africa-named-the-worst-polluter-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/859129\/50-year-old-town-in-south-africa-named-the-worst-polluter-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"50-year-old town in South Africa named the worst polluter in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Secunda, in Mpumalanga, is home to the world’s largest single point of emissions, with Sasol’s operations in the area producing more carbon dioxide than entire countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secunda was built to serve the second Sasol coal liquefaction plant, when the country sought to reduce its dependence on imported oil after the 1973 oil crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1974, Sasol started to develop the town of Secunda, with the town officially proclaimed in 1976, which is also when the first resident moved in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town supplies both the Sasol complex and the nearby coal mines. The town has more than 40,000 inhabitants, while the Sasol facility employs over 28,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of Sasol, the town is home to a series of amenities, including the Secunda Mall, schools, including a Curro, a waterpark and Graceland Hotel Casino & Country Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 250,000 people live in the nearby eMbalenhle township, which was established as Secunda’s black-only township in the apartheid-era 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As reported by MyBroadband<\/a>, the town was named after the Sasol II facility that it was built around, a coal-to-liquid plant in South Africa, after the first facility at Sasolburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sasol uses carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are produced from coal through gasification, and then processes these gases into synthetic fuel, contributing about 30% of the nation’s liquid fuel supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg<\/a> noted that Secunda’s reliance on coal as its primary feedstock makes it the\u00a0world\u2019s largest\u00a0single-point emitter of carbon dioxide. In 2023, Sasol emitted 64,000 kilotons of CO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sasol was also named among 57 companies worldwide that accounted for 80% of global CO2 emissions from 2016 to 2022 by Carbon Majors<\/a>, ranking 56th globally<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secunda’s operations alone produced more emissions than those of over 100 countries worldwide, including Norway, which is a major oil producer, as Bloomberg noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An international player also in the firing line<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Source: Bloomberg<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While Sasol’s operations in Secunda have been under constant scrutiny for years, Air Liquide’s operations there are now under the microscope as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Air Liquide bought the world’s largest oxygen production site from Sasol, located in Secunda. This oxygen is then used in the gasification process to convert coal into gases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsible investment organisation Just Share noted that South Africa’s industrial gases sector remains largely invisible in mainstream climate discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is despite its role in energy-intensive operations and its role in enabling emissions across multiple heavy industries. With the sector operating in the background, Just Share said that it is overlooked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just Share has also criticised Air Liquide for the lack of verifiable commitment to the public-interest conditions of its 2021 deal with Sasol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Liquide acquired sole operational control of 17 air separation units in its oxygen production system at Secunda, committing to reduce emissions by 30% by 2031, with 2020 as the base year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Both the baseline figure and annual compliance reports against this commitment have not been publicly disclosed, which makes independent verification of progress structurally impossible,” said Just Share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If industrial gases are the hidden backbone of heavy industrial processes, then their emissions \u2013 and the role they play in enabling other emissions-intensive industries – cannot remain in the shadows.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, although the original 900 MW renewable energy target set by the Competition Tribunal was surpassed, these levels are only a fraction of their capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Just Share, the company\u2019s average renewable load factor is only 30%-35% for wind power and 19%-21% for solar power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that the site runs all day, Eskom’s coal-fired electricity is required for about 65% to 80% of operations. The activists also noted that Air Liquide lacks a regionalised transition plan for South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that Air Liquide\u2019s Secunda operations face coal exposure on two fronts: seven coal-powered steam-driven units and ten electricity-powered units that draw on South Africa\u2019s 80% coal-based grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Greater transparency is essential. Site-level emissions reporting, clear interim milestones and public disclosure of merger compliance would allow investors, regulators and citizens to assess progress.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Without these measures, the world\u2019s largest single point source of emissions risks remaining a black box.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Secunda<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Secunda is the world’s largest single-point emitter, with Sasol and Air Liquide questioned over their operations in the area. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":859157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[15706,1850,2931,2240],"class_list":["post-859129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-air-liquide","tag-bloomberg","tag-mybroadband","tag-sasol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859129"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":859989,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859129\/revisions\/859989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}