‘Ramaphosa affirms climate goal despite coal push’ 20 April 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to meet the nation's net zero carbon emission target despite a push to keep coal-fired power plants open. Ramaphosa met with the Presidential Climate Change Commission on Wednesday. This follows an electricity colloquium held on Friday, where recommendations for the country's electricity planning were discussed. These recommendations take into account the need to limit carbon emissions and short-term measures to address the electricity crisis and involved extensive consultations with communities and other stakeholders. South Africa is facing an energy crisis and Eskom has subjected residents to more than 10 hours of blackouts almost every day this year. That's prompted calls to keep the country's coal-fired plants open for longer.

…The president also reiterated his plan to accelerate renewable-energy projects, Olver said. Bobby Peek, director of nonprofit groundWork and member of the commission, said that during the meeting commissioner Melissa Fourie, made the president aware of the link between fossil fuels, air pollution and deaths in the country. A study has shown that air pollution from Eskom's coal-fired power plants risks killing close to 80 000 people from 2025 until they are due for shutdown. Peek said that the president was "concerned" by what the PCC raised, explaining: Fourie, who is also director of the Centre for Environmental Rights, said the president remarked that the figures are "frightening" and that the health impacts need to be included in the reports the commission will submit to him.

…The Just Energy Transition Partnership Investment Plan (JETP-IP), which government unveiled ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt in November, is a key step towards securing $8.5 billion in climate finance from the US, UK, France, Russia and the European Union. That money is expected to catalyse further investment…It also urged the government to adjust its Integrated Resource Plan, a blueprint for the development of electricity provision, to provide for the addition of between 50GW and 60GW of renewable energy by 2030. It should also provide for adequate power storage in the form of batteries and between three and five gigawatts of gas-fired power. None of the models it looked at recommended additional coal-fired power plants or nuclear power facilities, it said. More detail will need to be given on how the expansion of the national grid will be financed, the commission said.