South Africa’s top climate policy body encouraged the country to postpone the retirement of its aging coal-fired power plants in order to address electricity shortages, claiming that the country is already on track to meet its climate targets despite the power crisis.
South Africa’s governing African National Congress encouraged Eskom to postpone the decommissioning of its old coal-fired power plants in order to minimize persistent power outages.
It also supports a $8.5 billion plan by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union to accelerate the transition from coal to solar and wind energy.
Cyril Ramaphosa has cautioned that the ultimate cost might be ten times what Western donors are contributing.
“The least-cost approach is to pull the coal plants off when they reach the end of their economic life,” said Crispian Olver, executive director of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), when it costs more to maintain them than to shut them down.
“Moving the decommissioning… by a couple of years will not have a significant impact on our NDC (nationally determined contributions to emissions reductions),” he said. “We are making good progress (on) emission reductions, which is due in part to the magnitude of (power cuts)… and anemic economic growth.”
South Africa is powered by coal. According to the Global Carbon Atlas, it will produce 430 megatonnes of CO2 in 2021, ranking it 14th among carbon emitters. It outperformed the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Australia, all of which have far bigger economies.
South Africa’s emissions reduction target is 398-510 MtCO2e by 2025, with a target of 350-420 MtCO2e by 2030.
The greatest power outages in Eskom’s history have decimated businesses in Africa’s most industrialized nation.
