The upside of the continued use of oil and gas by Africa far outweighs the risk to climate change, CEF Group CEO Dr Ishmael Poolo said yesterday.
Poking a stick at the headlong rush by developed countries into decarbonising their economies, he said in an address to the Africa Oil Week in Cape Town yesterday that instead of South Africa being rewarded for deploying 30% renewables as a percentage of its electricity-generating capacity, the country “is still chastised for its use of its natural endowment of natural resources,” such as the burning of coal.
Poolo’s and comments by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe indicate that while renewable energy development may be galloping ahead elsewhere in the world, and will continue in South Africa, traditional fossil fuel energy sources will form part of South African government policy for some time to come.
“Noticeably, the European Union is now intertwining their trade policy with climate policy, with the aim of using their strong trading position to influence/force African countries to accelerate their decarbonisation,” Poolo said.
He said it was unfortunate that the current EU cross-border carbon tax talks did not seem to differentiate between countries’ historic cumulative Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, as well as heavy polluters, with those countries that were undeveloped and had historically contributed far less to GHG emissions to date.
“The intertwining of trade policy with climate policy has the risk of treating countries equally, yet the current and historic share of GHG emission contributions is very different,” he said.
“The wielding of trading power to force less developed countries to accelerate their decarbonisation, to prematurely abandon the use of natural resources like oil and gas, is tantamount to forcing countries like South Africa onto a de-industrialisation path. In the current situation of high unemployment, this is not desirable for our country,” Poolo said.
“What we have noticed is that draconian carbon tax regimes are to be imposed as synonymous with decarbonisation policy,” but he said it was “wrong to impose both decarbonisation and trade policy as one.”
“Oil and gas is an asset we plan to use to lift our people out of poverty in Uganda,” said Uganda minister of energy and mineral development Ruth Nankabirwa. “However, some members of the international community are opposing this. It is like they are asking Africa to be poor,” said Nankabirwa.
She said the international community’s call for Africa to avoid developing its own resources was especially galling, considering the continent is responsible for only 3.8% of global carbon emissions.
Mantashe said at the conference that the President of the World Bank recently warned that inflation, slow growth, lower productivity, higher interest rates and the drain on global energy supplies in advanced economies were likely to persist beyond 2023, and pose a big economic risk to developing countries.
“Therefore, there is a need for new micro and macro pathways, because the status quo is not an option. Africa’s oil and gas resources can help accelerate and guarantee the continent’s energy security, and drive regional economic development through the processing and beneficiation of petroleum products,” he said.
“South Africa has set an ambitious programme to attract local and international investment in oil and gas exploration and production. This complements our exploration strategy in mining, aimed at minerals for clean energy technologies,” he said.
Mantashe said the transition from high carbon to low carbon emission must be managed systematically, and must include support and use of gas and renewable energy and other energy sources, while at the same time scaling down South Africa’s previous over-reliance on coal.
Mantashe said discoveries of “significant oil and gas” in our neighbouring SADC member countries was encouraging.
“They will strengthen energy, support other by products such, like fertilisers, to boost agricultural production. This means we must invest in beneficiation to boost manufacturing,” he said.
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