Amid socioeconomic challenges, the country should seize whatever power it can
Those who see SA as a bogeyman in the climate change narrative are holding us to a standard they are not applying to themselves.
One of the effects of this pressure is that foreign investors have leant on SA banks to no longer finance the coal sector, other than to help Eskom keep the lights on. Until recently they trod quite lightly, conscious of the need not to take too hard a line with a government that is reliant on fossil fuels lest the stance prove counterproductive.
SA’s energy supply is 70% reliant on coal, and the completion of the latest module of Medupi will require 16-million more tonnes a year. This suggests that at a policy level this country has no plans to reduce its coal appetite and banks need to reconsider — within limitations — feeding that need. One of the main reasons Africa is poor is that it doesn’t have access to enough energy, which is critical for lifting people out of poverty, improving health and education outcomes and raising industrial productivity. We should seize whatever power we can — renewable or carbon based — and consider following the West once we too are rich.
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