South Africa is committed to doing its fair share to ensure that the December Copenhagen climate change talks (COP 15) produce a deal that will be favourable to developed and developing countries.
We are aware of our contribution to the overall global green house gases largely due to our reliance on coal powered electricity, and we are committed to taking responsible action to reduce our emissions. Over the long term we will redefine our competitive advantage and structurally transform the economy by shifting from energy intensive to a climate friendly path as part of a pro-growth, pro-development and pro-jobs strategy.
South Africa is working towards a strategic policy framework in which our emissions peak between 2020 and 2025, stabilise for a decade, before declining in absolute terms towards mid century. To achieve this we will require extensive international financial and technical support.
Any developing country’s actions to contribute to the mitigation of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions must be supported through the provision of the means of implementation (technology, financing and capacity building) in a measurable reportable and verifiable manner.
Furthermore funding for adaptation should be significantly increased in order to be adequate to address the adaptation needs of developing countries. This is essential in enabling developing countries to cope with the double burden of developing sustainability and adapting to the effects of climate change.
The current international climate change negotiations are scheduled to conclude with COP15, hosted by Denmark, when signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will negotiate a broader and more ambitious global pact to combat climate change beyond 2012 when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC comes to an end.
For South Africa, a successful outcome is one that is inclusive, fair and effective; that has a balance between adaptation and mitigation, and a balance between development and climate imperatives. Success in Copenhagen should strengthen climate resilient development and must urgently assist the world’s poorest and most vulnerable to adapt.
The issue for developing countries like ours has not merely been about energy security but energy access as well. The greatest challenges being faced is how to ensure energy security and access while not negatively impacting on our developmental imperatives and at the same time laying the foundation for moving towards a path of low carbon growth. The problem being faced in South Africa is that we have an energy supply problem and apart from demand side management initiatives, the only manner to realistically deal with the immediate problem is through the building of carbon efficient coal technology, in the medium term.
It must be noted that the Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS) is not a policy but rather a study on mitigation potential. The Clean Technology Fund (CTF) is to be used to support the government’s goal of significantly reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, as also outlined in our LTMS. Therefore the situation we find ourselves in is not a simple matter of ensuring energy security and access via renewable but rather more complex which would mean a continued use of fossil fuels in the short to medium term while at the same time we make a gradual shift to non-fossil fuel energy sources over a longer term. This issue would need to be approached in this context.
For media enquiries contact:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
E-mail: amodise@deat.gov.za
Roopa Singh
Cell: 082 225 3076
Tel: 012 310 3566
E-mail: rsingh@deat.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs
15 September 2009
