14 December 2006
Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
today announced that "we are committed to ensuring that South Africa learns
from the Green Goal experience which vastly reduced the environmental impact of
the 2006 World Cup that was held in Germany." The Minister was speaking from
Germany where he held discussions with Germany's Federal Environment Minister,
the European Environment Commissioner and key role players in the German Green
Goal initiative.
According to Minister Van Schalkwyk, "South Africa is committed to greening
the 2010 World Cup by focusing on the basis of four pillars: conservation of
water and energy, waste management, transport and mobility and a carbon offset
campaign."
Leveraging legacy benefits for the African continent
Minister Van Schalkwyk commented, "An initial Greening 2010 workshop in SA
last month discussed the possibility of including a carbon offset campaign as
part of the 2010 Greening Campaign. The idea would be to use the proceeds from
the 2010 Legacy project programme to support the more equitable distribution of
Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Africa. It is our intention
to make use of the 2010 Greening Campaign and its carbon offset legacy project
to promote the finding of African solutions to African challenges, more
specifically: in-country capacity building and support for the development of
Kyoto CDM project proposals."
Green Goal
Green Goal used a number of innovative techniques to reduce its impact on
climate change. These included the use of renewable energy at stadia and
greater use of public and non-motorised transport by fans, resulting in
substantially reduced greenhouse gas emission. The Green Goal succeeded in
decreasing electricity emissions from an estimated 7 540 tonnes to 2 490 tonnes
and transport emissions from 90 000 tonnes to 73 000 tonnes.
The Minister further elaborated, "In addition to being the first 'climate
neutral' World Cup, the organisers offset emissions rises in Germany by
supporting clean energy schemes in India and South Africa which in total offset
roughly 100 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The South African projects that
benefited from Green Goal were a sewage gas project in Sebokeng and a sawdust
fuelled fruit drying furnace in Letaba."
South Africa's prior achievements
The Minister noted, "South Africa already has a good track record with the
successes of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism's Greening the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) project. At the time the summit
was the biggest international conference ever held in Africa, involving 37 000
people. We were supported by the Global Environment Facility to organise the
summit using environmental best practice guidelines. The WSSD produced 331 tons
of solid waste of which 24 percent or 76 tons were recycled. Forty thousand
tons of carbons were offset through climate legacy certificates. 'Green energy'
accounted for 26 percent of the energy used at the conference and additional
energy was conserved through retro-fitting (e.g. energy efficient lighting in
hotels).
"I am confident that South Africa is on track to meet the challenge. We have
a solid history of success in this area and more importantly, we are firmly
committed to the sustainable management of our environment in 2010 and
beyond."
Enquiries:
Blessing Manale
Cell: 083 381 2939
Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923
Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
14 December 2006
