“PRETORIA: “Ramaphosa Urges Green Energy to Avoid Carbon Border Tax”,President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa cautioned developing nations on Monday (Jul 15) that proposed carbon taxes from wealthy countries could harm their economies unless they swiftly transition away from fossil fuels to embrace green energy.”
“Speaking at a National Treasury and World Bank climate change conference in Pretoria, Ramaphosa highlighted the unsustainable carbon intensity of South Africa’s economy, heavily reliant on coal for electricity generation.”
“For decades, our reliance on coal allowed us to produce electricity cheaply. But the world has changed, and this dependency now poses significant risks,” he said, citing primarily the carbon taxes proposed by trading blocs such as the European Union.
“Instruments like the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism … (have) the potential to cause great damage to developing economies,” he said.
Data from think tank Ember shows South Africa was the most carbon-intensive major economy in 2022, producing 709g of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of energy generated.
That has put it in the world’s top 15 greenhouse gas emitters – above Türkiye, Italy, France or Britain, according to watchdog Climate Transparency.
Ramaphosa highlighted the impact of storms last week around the city of Cape Town, which shut down the port and caused “caused devastation to homes, communities, businesses and infrastructure”, as an example of negative climate impacts.
South Africa’s new energy minister vowed last week to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, in a shift in rhetoric from his predecessor, a defender of the coal business. Yet few details have emerged of how this will occur.
Western donors are offering billions of dollars in loans to fund the transition, but South African officials say they barely scratch the surface of the finance needed.
