Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has insisted that as South Africa continues to transition from a carbon intensive economy to a green economy, communities must be informed, consulted and educated on what the transition will mean to them.
The minister was delivering an address at the Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW) seminar on South Africa's Just Energy Transition and the Future of Work in Tshwane.
Ramokgopa emphasised the importance of consultations with and education of communities as South Africa transitions and, by implication, some coal fired power stations wind down operations.
"We need to answer that question by what we mean by [Just Energy Transition]. It's also about the democratisation of the conversation. It's important that when you move into [communities] you don't undermine the agency and the ability of people in those areas to comprehend and understand the implications of the decisions that you want to take.
"You don't suggest that you have the authority to decide on their behalf. We don't have that authority. It's important that they get to be educated [on] the impact of not transitioning to the environment, to their own health, what it means and the impact of doing that suddenly.
"And they must contribute to the generation of how best to do that Just Transition and don't treat those people as unthinking [and] as people who don't have a view. As we move this just transition, we [must] take communities with us," he said.
The minister highlighted that South Africa's Just Energy Transition is expected to be an expensive process which - he added - should be subsidised by developed nations who are responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gases causing climate change.
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"There's a ticket that's assigned to the transition...the financing ticket. We are talking about R1.6 trillion over a period of five years. The South African balance sheet is very weak; it will not be able to carry this. So you need to design bespoke financing instruments...to help us to go this route.
"But also more significantly, what is the contribution of the developed world? Those parties that are largely responsible for the kind of damage that we are seeing to the environment. Africa in total contributes about 4% to the greenhouse gas emissions. We can't carry the same responsibility. The industrialised and developed north have got both a moral and ethical duty to ensure that they are able to finance this transition," he said.
Turning to South Africa's renewable energy sector, Ramokgopa reiterated President Cyril Ramaphosa's stance that the sector is undergoing a revolution that will create jobs and growth.
"Without any hesitation, renewables are going to see the biggest exponential growth of any form of fuel in the energy mix. We are tilting towards green forms of energy. Nuclear, solar PV, hydro and wind are going to be the mainstay of this transition. Of course, we do all of these things at the pace and scale that we can afford.
"We know that on solar PV and wind, these are some of the cheapest forms of generation. So we are going that route with its own weaknesses that this is not dispatchable power. So it's not available all the time. It's important that we do this configuration of what constitutes the various forms of fuel sources...understanding that the backbone of our energy generation will still be baseload," he said.
