Commission report calls out SA over tardy climate action

SA, the world’s 14th-biggest carbon emitter, has made strong commitments to climate action but is moving too slowly to wean itself off coal and roll out renewables to meet them, according to a report issued on Thursday.

SA has been lauded for making ambitious pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are higher even than far richer nations such as France, Britain and Italy and for producing a comprehensive plan to achieve it. But several countries’ actions globally are lagging behind their pledges.

“Despite all the strong public support and policy commitments, we’ve got a huge discrepancy between that and what’s actually happening,” Melissa Fourie, one of the authors of the presidential climate commission report, said at its launch in Johannesburg.

The independent report, commissioned by the president’s office, says the country needs a more than six-fold increase in the pace of renewables buildout.

This week, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the sweeping Climate Change Act, which sets caps for large emitters.

Donors are providing $12bn, most of it in the form of loans, to fund SA’s energy transition, a model they hope to export elsewhere in the developing world.

The country has been firing up its coal burners to end years of power shortages. Last year, officials backtracked on pledges to shut down eight coal-fired power stations and they have admitted SA won’t meet its 2030 targets.

According to the report, total renewable capacity in SA amounted to 10.4 GW in 2022, growing by 1GW a year since 2015. To meet net zero by 2050, however, renewable capacity would need to grow by between 190GW and 390GW, requiring 6GW-14GW a year.

The report blamed “contradictory public policies ... particularly regarding the future of the energy sector”, adding: “The lack of consensus about the pace of the coal phase-out is delaying ... the transition.” It added that investment was far below what was required, with R131bn a year being committed, against requirements of R334bn-R535bn.

Reuters