South Africa: How Committed is South Africa to Reducing Fossil Fuel Dependence?

analysis

Last year's court judgement against Shell to suspend seismic blasting off the Wild Coast was hailed by local environmental and tourism groups as a victory in the protection of one of the country's most beautiful coastlines. Moreover, the case served to bring greater public attention to some of the dynamics and critical questions at play in terms of how the South African government navigates its urgent energy requirements in the face of growing international pressure to transition towards renewable energy sources.

South Africa is committed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its 2015 Paris Agreement (PA) to contribute to the global climate change effort of limiting warming to well below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The country's second National Determined Contribution Plan (NDC), submitted to the UN last year ahead of COP26, outlines more ambitious mitigation targets than those contained in its first NDC. It sets out a plan for the country to reach peak emissions in 2025, (at 398 and 510 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent respectively) before moving to net-zero by 2050, in line with global emissions targets.

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