Evaluating impacts of coal mining in South African environment: A step to actualizing society 4.0

South Africa is considered as one of the ten largest coal producers and the fourth largest coal exporting country in the world. The above claim perfectly confirms the importance of the coal mining industry to the country economy. With increasing dependency of the country on coal resource for power generation, all indications show that coal exploration in the country will not be abated in near time. The exploration, however, has detrimental effects both on the flora and the fauna as well as the humans. This study, therefore, evaluates the impacts of coal mining in South Africa relative to achieving society 4.0 in the country. Mpumalanga province was used as a case study as mining activities are highly prevalent in this area. Impacts of the mining activities on air pollution and water pollution were reviewed in the study area. The study further develops a roadmap towards achieving Society 4.0 in the era of societal revolution, thus achieving the low carbon global paradigm shift. This study concludes on the need for cleaner substitute for coal in the country as a long-term recommendation and on a short-term sustainability scale, we discourage opencast mining and encourage underground mining of the resource.