High Court orders DMRE to release records of decision to include new coal power in IRP 2019

In an early victory for CancelCoal applicants, the Pretoria High Court on December 12 ordered Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to release records relating to the decision to include new coal-fired power in the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), and to the 2020 Ministerial determination for new coal issued under the IRP. The court has ordered the Minister to release the documents in question and ordered government to pay costs, clearing the way for the main CancelCoal case to proceed, says the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), which represented the environmental applicants in the case, namely the African Climate Alliance, the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action and groundWork.