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Pretoria: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday (July 15) warned other developing countries that future carbon taxes proposed by rich countries would damage their economies unless they act quickly to abandon fossil fuels and switch to green energy.
Ramaphosa told a meeting of national Treasury and the World Bank on climate change in the capital, Pretoria, that South Africa’s economy was heavily dependent on coal-fired power generation and its carbon intensity was unsustainable.
“For decades, our reliance on coal … has enabled us to produce electricity cheaply. But the world has changed and this reliance has created significant risks,” he said, referring mainly to carbon taxes proposed by trade blocs such as the European Union.
“Instruments like the EU’s ‘Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’ … have the potential to cause huge damage to developing economies,” he said.
Data from think tank Ember shows that in 2022, South Africa was the most carbon-intensive major economy, emitting 709 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.
China has become one of the world’s 15 largest emitters of greenhouse gases, ahead of Turkey, Italy, France and the United Kingdom, according to the watchdog Climate Transparency Group.
Ramaphosa highlighted the impact of last week’s storms around the city of Cape Town, which closed the port and “caused damage to homes, communities, businesses and infrastructure” as an example of the negative impacts of climate.
“Countries in the global South … are feeling the worst impacts of climate change despite historically being least responsible for global emissions,” he said.
South Africa’s new energy minister last week vowed to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, a break from rhetoric by his predecessor, a defender of the coal industry. However, details on how exactly this will be achieved have not been revealed.
Western donors have provided billions of dollars in loans to finance the transition, but South African officials say those loans barely scratch the surface of what is needed.
India has some of the world’s richest solar and wind resources, but years of bureaucratic delays in issuing licenses and policy uncertainty have deterred investors. Last year, the government delayed the closure of eight coal-fired power stations until 2030, citing energy security concerns.
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