By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is undertaking policies and programmes to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects.
Writing his weekly letter, Ramaphosa said that severe storms and extreme weather left many parts of the country battered.
While these events have a devastating impact on human lives, health and safety, they also carry massive risks for economic activity—the fallout of which risks carrying the human cost even higher.
The president said that the extreme weather is evidence of the effects of climate change worsening, with heatwaves, severe storms, flooding and even uncharacteristic cold sweeping through parts of the country over the past few years.
“Agriculture, tourism, mining and manufacturing are just some of the areas of economic activity that could be adversely affected by climate change. Then there are the equally dire effects on water security, food security, public infrastructure, human settlements, health care and education, Ramaphosa said.
“The increasing frequency of disasters impacts public finances. On the one hand, disasters affect economic growth and lower tax revenues. On the other hand, they require increased expenditures on disaster relief, health care, and other forms of social support for affected communities.”
These realities mean that South Africa has to accelerate its journey to being a greener and cleaner economy so that it can adapt to climate change and mitigate its impact.
Ramaphosa said that the carbon intensity of the South African economy has become unsustainable.
“The world is moving towards greener economies. These include a number of our major trading partners, who are taking measures to decarbonise that will in the long run affect the competitiveness of South Africa’s exports to these markets, “he said.
As a signatory to the Paris Agreement to Combat Climate Change, South Africa also has an obligation to reduce emissions and make a fair contribution to the global climate change effort, he said.
He pointed to South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET) and Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme as two measure the country has taken to accomplish this.
The Just Energy Transition Investment Plan sets out a plan to drive huge investments in the electricity grid, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, economic diversification and skills development.
The plan has drawn keen interest from developed nations, with over R170 billion in funding committed to the rollout, provided South Africa can stick to its goals.
However, the plan has hit a snag: South Africa is less eager to move away from carbon-intensive energy generation, at least in the medium term.
This is because the country is still heavily reliant on Eskom’s coal-generation fleet for power—and the country cannot risk throwing itself back into a national power crisis of extreme shortfalls for the sake of hitting climate targets.