GHG emission factors for electricity have remained relatively constant in South Africa over the last few years as shown in the table below:

 Year Emission Factor Source
2007/2008  1.00 kgs CO2/kWh  Eskom 2009 Annual Report
2008/2009  1.03 kgs CO2/kWh  Eskom 2009 Annual Report
2009/2010  1.03 kgs CO2/kWh  Eskom 2010 Integrated Report
2010/2011  0.99 kgs CO2/kWh  Eskom 2011 Integrated Report

Organisations wishing to calculate the GHG impact of their electricity use can use these emission factors to do the following simple calculation:  kWh * Emission Factor = CO2 emitted.

For example:  1,000 kWh * 0.99 kgs CO2/kWh = 990 kgs CO2

The process of generating electricity in South Africa is GHG inefficient because of the high reliance on coal powered plants.    As a result, GHG emissions resulting from electricity generation in South Africa are generally higher than GHG emissions from electricity generation in other countries.

The change in emission factor in 2010/2011 is due to the fact that Eskom has decided to report on the factor for electricity generated instead of electricity sold which was done previously.