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0 The president Cyril Ramaphosa had an energy plan which he felt would be extremely helpful. That’s in context with the current economy. The ANC policy conference brought in a passive nod. The resolution of using coal as bedrock for the energy mix is getting a very good response. The governmental parties are focused on sticking to the COP27 commitments. All of that while having a transition program that got $8 billion as an endowment.
According to the ANC representative, retiring coal is possible, but it needs to be done slowly. Also, in a way that the country is able to afford it. There’s a very large amount of coal available at this time. This is a resource that needs to be harnessed and used properly. There’s also the potential damage this would do to the South African economy. Many communities would end up losing their jobs and deal with problems locally. Making the Just Transition is possible. However, rushing it might damage the economy instead of helping in any way.
Protecting Eskom is vital here, and there are even ideas of using Eskom 2 as a way to boost the work of the first entity. During COP26 South Africa created the Just Energy Transition Partnership along with the US, UK, EU, Germany, France. The governments pledged $8.5 billion. This will allow them to boost the just transition process to move away. The current carbon-intense methods generating energy are not as efficient. This also empowers the development of new sectors. These include electric vehicles or even green hydrogen.
The focus is on researching and introducing the new technologies. That’s while also adding in practical measures. Making sure that everyone gets a fair treatment. Also, no one gets left behind is extremely important. The transition will eventually take place. It’s important to do it in a way that doesn’t affect the South African economy. An accelerated transition can actually lead to problems.
That’s why avoiding any possible rush and keeping a slower pace is certainly the ideal approach. In general, a very fast pace can lead to problems and it’s not the rational thing to do. That’s why a more planned, cautious approach is the on to pursue. That’s according to Gwede Mantashe from the Department of Mineral and Energy. We can only assume this will happen in the near future. But only time can tell how the implementation of the system will take place.
