A "historic" plan to create an U.S.$8.5 billion partnership to fund a climate finance deal for South Africa has been welcomed by climate and environmental justice groups along with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Speaking on the deal, Ramaphosa said: "South Africa welcomes the commitment made in the Political Declaration to supporting the implementation of our revised Nationally Determined Contribution, which represents our country's ambitious effort to support the global battle against climate change. We look forward to a long term partnership that can serve as an appropriate model of support for climate action from developed to developing countries, recognising the importance of a just transition to a low carbon, climate resilient society that promotes employment and livelihoods."
President of France, Emmanuel Macron said: "This new partnership mobilises very significant support for South Africa's ambitious decarbonisation project for a just energy transition. It will benefit from the long-standing cooperation between France and South Africa through the work of the Agence française de développement. And we hope it will set the standard for other such partnerships in the future. France stands ready."
Dubbed the Just Energy Transition Partnership and a collaboration between the governments of South Africa, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, the deal will see the funds mobilised over a period of the next three to five years with aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of the country's economy. It will also be used to achieve the goals set in the country's in its updated Nationally Determined Contribution emissions goals by focusing on the electricity system.
A total of between 1-1.5 gigatonnes of emissions are expected to be prevented over the next two decades thanks to the Partnership. It will also support the nation's plan of creating a low emission, climate resilient economy.
Following the deal's announcement, the Life After Coal Campaign declared the following as the minimum demands in relation to any climate finance deal for South Africa:
- The finance must be conditional upon the retirement and reduced utilisation of Eskom's coal power stations at a pace and scope that allows South Africa to meet the lower bound of its nationally determined contribution, i.e. 350 Mt CO2e[4] – with a plan for greater ambition.
- Any finance must address the issue of Eskom's debt. Without addressing the paralysis caused by Eskom's debt burden - beyond Eskom's debt management strategy (of tariff increases, addressing municipal debt and cost inefficiencies) - no progress can be made towards economic and social justice, which are essential elements of the Just Transition.
- The finance must include the repurposing of Eskom coal power stations. By this we mean building renewable energy (RE) and other clean alternatives on the sites of the coal power stations, e.g. storage (not "repowering" with gas) and improving transmission infrastructure, which is essential for the rapid escalation of the RE roll-out, which is now beyond urgent. South Africa needs to build at least 5GW of RE per year to keep up with the retirement of ageing coal plants.
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The coalition also noted that the deal should not be limited to supporting national power supplier Eskom and its plans for renewable energy adoption but should rather also be used to fund the closure of coal mining areas. These areas, Life After Coal add, are effectively sterilised for local development without proper rehabilitation. The group also noted that privately owned renewable energy projects have adequate funding.
Director of groundWork, Bobby Peek said welcomed the deal as a first step but added that it was just the beginning of what should be a greater plan. "South Africa's need is much greater than the $8.5 billion proposed. To achieve a Just Transition to a zero carbon economy, South Africa needs climate finance that is transformational."
