Table › Companies › Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd

Initials from the entity name. Click the row to open the full profile.Eskom Holdings SOC LtdGenerating electricity and heat — mostly by burning coal, gas, or oil. South AfricaOfficial site ↗
45.6 million
cars driven for a year
210 Mt CO₂e
Approximate — depends on local grid.Approximate — depends on local grid.Approximate — varies by species, climate and age of tree.
flat year-on-year

🔥 Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd ranks #2 because its tracked power plants burn fossil fuels at scale.

How much of this entity's emissions could be tied to a named owner.How sure we are about the numbers — based on data coverage, recency and source agreement.Number of power plants or sites attributed to this entity in the Climate TRACE dataset.
⚔ CompareSee the proof
Climate Damage Score: 0–100. Bigger means more greenhouse gas this year. Built only from measured emissions and trend.
#2 of 1649

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, based in South Africa, generates electricity and heat, largely by burning fossil fuels. Climate TRACE attributes 14 high-emitting assets to it. Its largest tracked activities are electricity generation.

Burns coal, gas or oilFossil fuels are combusted in power stations to generate electricity.
Releases CO₂That combustion sends carbon dioxide straight into the atmosphere.
Traps heatExtra CO₂ thickens the greenhouse blanket, warming the planet.
See the proof

Power plants & sites behind it14 attributed assets · ownership split equally across listed owners

AssetSectorOwnershipAttributedConf.
Medupi power stationPower100%21.3 Mtmedium
Majuba power stationPower100%20.9 Mtvery low
Lethabo power stationPower100%19.2 Mtvery low
Matla power stationPower100%19.1 Mtvery low
Kendal power stationPower100%18.4 Mtvery low
Kusile power stationPower100%17.8 Mtmedium
Matimba power stationPower100%17.8 Mtvery low
Duvha power stationPower100%17.8 Mtvery low
Kriel power stationPower100%15.2 Mtvery low
Tutuka power stationPower100%13.9 Mtvery low
Arnot power stationPower100%10.1 Mtvery low
Hendrina power stationPower100%7.5 Mtvery low
Where this comes from
Climate TRACE — asset-level emissions & ownership · CC BY 4.0
Power · reference year 2024
Who profits

Hand-curated shareholder, revenue and investor context from primary public sources. This data is shown alongside — but is not used to compute — the Climate Damage Score.

About this data. Institutional investors like BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street typically hold shares on behalf of clients — appearing in shareholder records does not mean they control or direct the company. State entities and individuals with majority stakes are different and labelled accordingly.

Visit Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd
state ownedParent: Government of South Africa (Departme…HQ South Africa

Revenue

$14.5BUSD · FY2023

Source: Wikipedia — Eskom (FY ending March 2023 ≈ R293 billion)

Emissions intensity

14.5MtCO₂e / $1bn revenue

Above the curated-sample median (2.02 Mt/$bn) — more emissions per dollar of revenue than the typical large emitter we have data for.

Top shareholders & investors

  • Government of South Africa (sole shareholder)100%state

Source: primary public filings via Wikipedia. Stakes can change; see filings for the latest.

100% state-owned vertically integrated utility. No public float; debt is government-guaranteed.

How it's allowed

Signals below are derived from emissions data and ownership coverage only — not from any legal or regulatory finding.

Permitted Emissions
These emissions appear to occur under existing permits and regulations. Operating legally is not the same as operating cleanly.
Fossil-Fuel Power Generation
Attributed emissions include fossil-fuel power generation, which is among the most carbon-intensive ways to produce electricity.
Low Measurement Confidence
Measurement confidence for this entity is low; figures are best-available estimates.
No Verified Enforcement or Lobbying Record
This dataset contains no verified enforcement actions, lobbying records, subsidies, or litigation for this entity. Absence of evidence here is not evidence of compliance or of any violation.

Climate Villains makes no claim that any entity has broken any law. These are data-derived signals, not allegations.

Trend
Roughly flat– −0.2% flat
210 Mt218 Mt227 Mt20222024

Attributed emissions are roughly stable year on year. Attributed emissions, 2022–2024.

It ranks #2 mainly because its attributed assets emitted about 210 Mt CO₂e in 2024 (≈ 45.6M cars/yr).

The Climate Damage Score is driven by that absolute size on a log scale, with no trend adjustment applied.

Score breakdown

Absolute emissions
97 pts
Trend modifier
– −0.2% flat0 pts
Data confidence
How sure we are about the measurement. A low score doesn't lower the polluter's rank — it just shows the data is fuzzier.

See the full methodology for how the score is built, or data & coverage for how complete the underlying numbers are.

What we know · what we don't

What we know

  • Attributed emissions: 210 Mt CO₂e in 2024 (≈ 45.6M cars/yr).
  • Primary sector: Power; primary country: South Africa.
  • Evidence: 14 assets; ~100% ownership-attribution coverage.
  • Source: Climate TRACE (CC BY 4.0).

What we don’t

  • Exact ownership percentages — Climate TRACE lists owners but not stakes, so shared assets are split equally.
  • Indirect (supply-chain / financed / product-use) emissions are not included.
  • No PR claims, lobbying records, litigation history or policy-compliance data are included.
How sure we are about the measurement. A low score doesn't lower the polluter's rank — it just shows the data is fuzzier.How much of this entity's emissions could be tied to a named owner. Higher means a more complete picture.