![]() ![]() Once that department invites bids, it is up to companies to sketch out their environment impacts and get authorisation from the Department of Environment Affairs. This borrows from the platform for bids that was created for South Africa’s 6 000MW independent renewable energy build. It has been pushing for a new nuclear build, to replace the ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations that are run by the state-owned utility Eskom.īut, at the same time, it has called for bids from private companies to build coal-fired power stations. Those decisions are made at the Department of Energy. This is responsible for half of the country’s carbon emissions of just under 450-million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, according to the local Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Whether it’s the upper target, or the lower target, that is reached is down to the choices made in South Africa’s power sector. The town is geographically located in close proximity to a dozen coal power stations. Kriel, a small town in the Nkangala district, is located just outside of Eskom’s Kriel Power Station and several coal mines. Climate Action Tracker said: “If most other countries follow South Africa’s approach, global warming would exceed 3-4C.” This goal stems from South Africa’s pledge under the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 to reduce emissions on business-as-usual levels by 42% by 2025. ![]() ![]() That translates to either 198-million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 614-million tonnes. Its Nationally Determined Agreement – the climate plan it submitted to the UN last year – has, however, been called out as not being ambitious enough.Īnalysts at Climate Action Tracker rated the contribution as “inadequate”, saying: “It is not consistent with limiting warming below 2C.” The contribution is so vague as to allow South Africa to increase its emissions by anywhere between 20% and 82% on 1990 levels. It ratified the Paris Agreement in early November, and has a wide range of local initiatives to lower emissions and help people adapt to climate change. # Marrakech mail: sign up here for your daily # COP22 updateīut South Africa has been roundly criticised for its actions not matching up to its rhetoric. Projections by the World Bank show that average global warming is doubled in Africa’s interior, while the continent has little capacity to adapt to that change. As part of the Africa group, South Africa has consistently argued that the goal should be 1.5C because anything more is catastrophic for the continent. This put countries on the same path to ensuring that global warming is kept below 2C on pre-industrial levels. The minister’s decision came on the second day of the COP22 UN climate summit in Marrakech, where South Africa is negotiating on the nuts and bolts of how the UN’s Paris climate agreement will play out. They will also use up water in areas that are already water stressed, at a time when the country is toying with its third year of drought. South Africa’s environment minister has turned down objections to the country building two new coal-fired power stations which will add 16-million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere. ![]()
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