Heavy health toll of South Africa's coal-fired power plants

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A recent report from Greenpeace estimates that up to 2,700 premature deaths are caused every year by air pollution emissions from the country's 16 coal-fired power plants.

Greenpeace released the report in the wake of an application by Eskom, South Africa's public power utility, to postpone compliance with new minimum emissions standards aimed at reducing the damaging health impacts of air pollution.

The new standards are particularly vital for the country's north-eastern Mpumalanga Province where 12 coal-fired power plants are clustered on the western high-altitude side of the province known as the Highveld.

Read the full article on www.irinnews.org.