The Minister said during a debate on a just energy transition that lessons had been learned. (Ozair Patel/M&G)
Eskom's decommissioning of the Komati coal-fired power station was not a “good test case” for South Africa's energy transition, Forests, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creasy has said.
Mr Creecy, a member of the ANC's national executive committee, was the subject of this week's interview between the ruling Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), hosted by WWF South Africa and broadcast on 28 October 2018. spoke at a debate on the climate crisis. SAfm.
The minister was referring to the plant being shut down in October 2022 and converted to a wind and solar energy facility.
“What we found in the Komati situation is that workers who were directly employed at that coal-fired power plant were shifted elsewhere. [similar] What that transition didn't take into account was the broader ecosystem that depends on that power plant.
“And it turns out that the people who served the meals…the people who were serving Komati, those are the businesses and individuals who were harmed by the closure of the power plant.”
The lesson from Komati's example is that long before there is talk of abolishing coal-fired power plants, we must start talking about “frontloading, alternative industries, alternative training and retraining” and appropriate involvement, not just of trade unions. It was said that it had to be done. But for local organizations, the Minister said.
This is to enable people to identify new economic opportunities and mobilize capital to become not only workers in those industries, but also owners of new forms of technology and industry.
“The whole way we approach the transition through the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan is now, “Let's do research to find alternative industries, let's start them; Let's bring forward social relief and skills training long before the decommissioning process. ”
EFF MP Nazir Poulsen said Komati should have taken on the technology to “challenge the clean coal experiment”.
But clean coal has been branded a myth and a smokescreen by environmental groups.
“There is no such thing as clean coal,” Poulsen acknowledged. “But what we're doing is capturing carbon emissions and reducing emissions into the atmosphere, making the environment much more hospitable than it was then. That's how we kept running Komati.”
“It was running efficiently, producing the energy it needed and creating jobs. If the ANC had just shut down. [Komati] At issue is their response to demands from foreign governments to switch from coal to renewable energy. ”
“Ambitious goals”
Mr Creasy said the ANC takes climate change seriously and has done so for the past 30 years, and under its leadership the government has supported the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol in 2002 and more recently. 2015 Paris Agreement.
In 2023, the government will make a revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), or emissions submitted a climate action plan to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts. .
“Our party aims to balance environmental sustainability with economic development and social equity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build resilience and adaptive capacity. We aim to do so in a way that does not leave workers or communities behind or compromise our energy security,” the minister said.
The government has put in place an architecture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change on people, infrastructure, food and water.
“The proof in the pudding is actually in the evidence,” Creasey said, noting that South Africa's recently released draft Ninth National Greenhouse Gas Inventory report shows that the country's current emissions are on average within the Paris Agreement. He said this shows that the temperature rise is below 2 degrees Celsius. .
“However, it will take more effort and more funding to reduce emissions and make a commensurate contribution to limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C. In other words, this increase is preferable to a 2°C increase in average temperature.”C”
Mr Creasy said the ANC was committed to mobilizing resources and “working for change” at home and abroad, “so we can meet our temperature targets and transition our economy in a fair, sustainable and inclusive way. I will do so,” he added.
The country's power crisis has stalled progress in decommissioning coal-fired power plants. “[This is] Because we clearly understand that energy security cannot be compromised because of the economic impact of energy.
“But we are within the NDC.” [aim] We have submitted our greenhouse gas reduction targets to the United Nations and intend to stay within our 2025 and eventually 2030 targets. ”
Creation of “prosumers”
DA MP Dave Bryant said the party had made significant progress towards developing climate change legislation for the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape, adding that the strategy was developed by the City of Cape Town in 2017 and that the The 2022 Strategy noted that the government was up to date on climate change.
“We are putting together a very sophisticated framework that includes resilience strategies to deal with future shocks and stressors not only from climate change, but also from other related issues.”
As for the city, Bryant said the DA plans to create a “prosumer.” “They have existing renewable energy capacity (in most cases solar panels) at home or business and are looking to cut through the red tape and ensure legislation is in place to allow them to put that energy back into the grid. The people who are there.”
This reduces electricity and energy demand and at the same time reduces carbon emissions.
“There are many similar plans and strategies in place in the City of Cape Town,” Bryant added.
The energy transition required greater involvement of the private sector.
“We believe Eskom should be separated and we have been saying that for a very long time to create space for more role players from the private sector to come in,” he said.
“If we are able to form a new central government center, one of the things we as the DA intend to work on is restricting both public and private institutions, public institutions and This area is important in terms of generating new renewable energy and procuring capacity more quickly. ”
Climate change opportunities
Mr Creasy said climate change is a significant economic opportunity for the country.
The ANC's manifesto commits the country to a path of industrialization and the growth of new manufacturing sectors and sectors such as green hydrogen, battery storage and electric vehicles.
These are areas of growth and job creation around the world.
“In our manifesto, we are committed to making South Africa a significant opportunity for this type of manufacturing and industrialization industry,” she said.
“This is obviously very important, because as we move away from coal power generation and coal mining over the next 30 years towards mid-century net zero commitments, we are not just creating service-level jobs; Because it's really important that we don't just expand public services, labor-type jobs, but we actually create the same kinds of high-quality jobs that currently exist in the coal value chain. I am. ”
But EFF's Poulsen said the new industry “requires special skills that we don't have at the moment” and need to be developed.
“It will be disastrous for this country's economy. We need to consider whether we stick with skilled industries or build unskilled industries and drive unemployment even higher. ” Poulsen asked.