{"id":49814,"date":"2024-01-08T17:10:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=49814"},"modified":"2024-01-08T17:10:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:10:29","slug":"south-african-ministry-uses-opaque-modelling-to-argue-for-weakening-climate-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2024\/01\/08\/south-african-ministry-uses-opaque-modelling-to-argue-for-weakening-climate-ambition\/","title":{"rendered":"South African ministry uses opaque modelling to argue for weakening climate ambition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>The South African energy ministry has suggested that the country should scale back its climate ambitions, looking to use more gas and less renewables than previously planned.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ministry, led<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmyAHarder\/status\/1717571702065189312\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by pro-coal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> minister Gwede Mantatashe, released its<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmr.gov.za\/Portals\/0\/Resources\/IRP%202023%20%5bINTEGRATED%20RESOURCE%20PLAN%5d\/Publication%20for%20comments%20Integrated%20Resource%20Plan%202023.pdf?ver=2024-01-05-134833-383\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> draft Integrated Resource Plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (IRP) on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Energy analysts complained that it fails to reveal the figures on which its controversial assumptions are based and pointed out that it contrasts sharply with South Africa\u2019s already approved just energy transition strategy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the new IRP\u2019s preferred scenario, the government will add 6 gigawatts (GW) of new gas by 2030 but just 4.5 GW of new wind and solar between 2024 and 2030.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2024\/01\/04\/azerbaijan-appoint-state-oil-company-veteran-as-cop29-president\/\"><b>Azerbaijan appoint<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> state oil company veteran as Cop29 president<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Together with private sector-led projects, this would lift the share of renewables in the power mix to 22% by the end of the decade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s according to calculations by Tobias Bischof-Niemz, a former policy adviser at the state-owned energy research unit CSIR.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is a step back from the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov.za\/irp\/2019\/IRP-2019.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2019 iteration of the IRP<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which saw renewables reaching at least 33% of the mix by 2030.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, in April local universities, research entities, business groups and the government\u2019s official climate advisers<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pccommissionflow.imgix.net\/uploads\/images\/PCC_DRAFT_Electricity-Planning-and-Recommendations-Report_20230408.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">found that<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> South Africa needs to add 50-60GW of solar and wind this decade to end rolling blackouts and meet its climate commitments. Doing so would push the share of renewables above 40%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Happy Khambule, environment and energy manager at Business Unity South Africa and former member of the government\u2019s climate advisory body, told Climate Home that \u201cthe IRP deviates from widely accepted models and shows a lack of ambition\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2023\/12\/29\/ten-climate-questions-for-2024\/\"><b>Ten climate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> questions for 2024<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Africa is Africa\u2019s biggest greenhouse gas emitter thanks to its heavy reliance on coal, which supplies more than four-fifths of the nation\u2019s electricity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet regular power cuts have hobbled the economy since 2007 due to ongoing breakdowns across the country\u2019s fleet of ageing coal plants.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow in 2021, a group of wealthy nations<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2021\/11\/04\/south-africa-8-5bn-finance-package-offers-model-ending-reliance-coal\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">announced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> they would help fund South African investments in renewable energy, transmission infrastructure, green hydrogen, and electric vehicle manufacturing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The South African government has since approved a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pccommissionflo.imgix.net\/uploads\/images\/South-Africas-Just-Energy-Transition-Investment-Plan-JET-IP-2023-2027-FINAL.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> just energy transition investment plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which has $11.9 billion in financial commitments so far and which largely follows the climate commission\u2019s recommendations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the new IRP, which says rolling blackouts will likely continue until at least 2028, shows that Mantashe\u2019s department has different ideas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mantashe is a former coal miner who rose to power through the trade union movement. He has long called for new public investments in coal, gas and nuclear power, arguing that these technologies which can provide electricity when called upon are necessary for both energy security and economic development.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2023\/12\/28\/six-takeaways-from-2023s-climate-change-news\/\"><b>Six takeaways<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from 2023\u2019s climate change news<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2022, Mantashe<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2023\/01\/11\/eskom-poisoning-raises-fears-for-south-africas-energy-transition\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">clashed publicly<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with the then head of the state-owned power company Eskom Andre De Ruyter, who favoured a more ambitious renewable energy programme.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mantashe signed off on the draft IRP, a 48-page document which looks at a number of possible pathways to 2030 and then to 2050.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One pathway relies on delaying the closure of five coal plants by a decade and focusing on improving their performance, while another envisages the addition of up to 6GW of so-called \u201ccleaner coal\u201d technologies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The IRP also considers investment in nuclear energy as well as a renewables-only pathway \u2013 although it claims that this option is not feasible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt is evident that energy pathways based on renewable and clean energy technologies only deliver the desired outcome insofar as decarbonising the power system,\u201d the IRP reads. \u201cHowever, these pathways do not provide security of supply while carrying the highest cost to implement.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2023\/12\/27\/indonesia-palm-oil-forest-fines\/\"><b>Indonesia promises<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to fine palm oil companies operating in forests<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Emily Tyler, the climate policy lead at Meridian Economics Emily Tyler dispute this conclusion. She told Climate Home: \u201cAll credible South African power system modelling exercises show substantial renewable energy capacity in the least-cost case\u2026and little utilised gas, no nuclear, and no new coal\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it does not make any definitive conclusions, the IRP suggests that the best option would be to reduce the renewables programme and build up a gas industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to this pathway, South Africa should procure 7 GW of gas capacity by 2030 and another 33.4 GW over the following two decades, increasingly using gas drilled locally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tyler said that, if this plan goes ahead, private industry would build its own cheap renewable energy while \u201cthe poor will be left with very expensive grid electricity as the only option\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tyler adds that the lack of technical detail in the draft IRP makes it \u201cimpossible to assess\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2023\/12\/22\/we-must-make-it-easier-to-attend-cops-virtual\/\"><b>We must<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> make it easier to attend Cops virtually<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite deadly air pollution in coal regions like Mpumalanga, the plan suggests the need to find a way around compliance with South Africa\u2019s air quality standards to ensure coal plants can legally remain online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eskom is technically in breach of the nation\u2019s minimum emission standards, but has been granted exemptions until March 2025. If the rules are implemented from that date, Eskom would have to remove up to 30GW of coal capacity from the mix.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA balance will have to be found between energy security, the adverse health impacts of poor air quality, and the economic cost associated with these plants shutting down,\u201d the IRP states.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The draft plan is out for public comment. Once approved, it will allow policymakers to procure new generating capacity in line with its recommendations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gwede Mantashe&#8217;s ministry argues for cutting ambition on renewables and investing more in gas. also plugging so-called &#8220;clean coal&#8221;","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":49816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5126],"class_list":["post-49814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","type-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South African ministry uses opaque modelling to justify weak climate goals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gwede 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