Mud slinging in South Africa over energy choices
South Africa needs new power generation, but just how additional supply should be delivered is a matter of much – and increasingly heated – debate.
At the COP26 talks last year, an innovative agreement was reached between a group of rich countries and South Africa. The Just Energy Transition Partnership aimed to provide $8.5 billion of financing over the next five years to support decarbonisation plans in South Africa.
At the heart of the problem is South Africa’s reliance on coal, accounting for 77% of power generation. Could the country transition to renewable energy in one jump, or does it need gas to serve as an intermediate step?
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Just Energy Transition Partnerships and How They Work
To limit the damage caused by climate change, the world needs to rapidly reduce carbon dioxide emissions everywhere, not just in rich countries. To get there, poor and middle-income places will require trillions of dollars for replacing coal plants with cleaner energy, improving electrical grids and retraining workers, among other measures. Just Energy Transition Partnerships, or JETPs, are among the most high-profile financing mechanisms designed to funnel money from wealthy economies to some of the bigger developing-world emitters for the purpose of weaning off fossil fuels. South Africa signed the first agreement in 2021, and a handful of others are getting off the ground, including in Indonesia. But the process has been slow and politically fraught, raising the question of whether such flagship plans can be inclusive, effective and timely enough to fulfill their promise.
Richard Halsey: Revised electricity infrastructure plan must admit benefits of energy storage
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