Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Barbara Creecy. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town – Coal will remain part of South Africa’s energy mix into the 2040s, and improving the energy availability factor of our current power stations is a pressing imperative, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy says.
Creecy was speaking at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Wednesday.
She said understanding the physical and economic risks was essential to approach the complex question of balancing energy security in the context of the climate transition.
“Our government has never advocated a sudden or precipitous move away from either coal-fired generation or towards a low carbon economy. The National Development Plan and Eskom have talked about attaining net zero emissions by mid-century, nearly thirty years from now.
“Building a low carbon economy and a climate-resilient society will not happen overnight. It requires wide reaching technological, economic and societal changes.
“Changes that will build new forms of power generation, attract new investment in our productive processes, prioritise the needs of vulnerable workers, communities and social groupings. It is the task of a generation.
“This means, as many commentators have said, coal will remain part of our energy mix into the 2040s, and improving the energy availability factor of our current power stations is a pressing imperative. But this doesn’t mean that we can just sit back and wait,” Creecy said.
South Africa’s BRICS counterparts, India, and China, are developing the biggest renewable generation programmes in the world, Creecy said, adding that they were currently using coal.
“But their renewable build tells us that they fully understand the economic transition risks that lie ahead, and they have absolutely no intention of being cut out of future trade markets.”
In terms of new opportunities for investment, employment and prosperity in the climate transition for the mining sector, these are in the so-called “minerals of the future” and include rare earth minerals, lithium for battery storage and the platinum value chain where South Africa already has an established advantage, Creecy said.
From an energy security perspective, significant opportunity also presented in wind and solar generation, the development of new green liquid fuels and the development of new forms of mining equipment, using cutting-edge technology in the green hydrogen value chain.
On the issue of climate justice, government last year adopted the Just Transition Framework pioneered by the Presidential Climate Commission following extensive national consultation, Creecy said: “The framework highlights that climate justice will only be achieved if vulnerable workers and communities are included in identifying the transition challenges and opportunities of low carbon development pathways.
“If these pathways create new opportunities for investment ownership and jobs for these workers and communities, and finally the development of a low-carbon economy and climate resilient society, they must assist South Africa to overcome our broader development challenges.”
Cape Times