Emalahleni must look beyond its coal reserves
Under the JETP, partner governments pledged an initial amount of $8.5 billion as a contribution towards financing South Africa’s long-term just transition process to reduce the carbon intensity of South Africa’s electricity system.
Emalahleni is the heartbeat of the coal hub, but the coal is not going to last forever.
Therefore it has a huge responsibility to accelerate transition to a low emission and a climate-resilient economy.
“As South Africa’s coal hub, Mpumalanga local government must be aware of its role and understand the responsibilities and opportunities that come with moving away from coal and accelerating a transition to a low emission, climate-resilient economy. Just Energy Transition (JET) integration into municipal plans and projects,” was the message during the third workshop of the Just Energy Transition series that took place on October 18 and 19.
The JET focusses on the transition of South Africa’s energy sector as the country slowly but surely shifts away from coal towards cleaner sources of energy. It also refers to a transformation from fossil fuel to a low carbon, climate resilient economy and society in a manner that results in an increase in sustainable jobs.
Institutions involved in JET initiatives, the Climate Finance and Investment at the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) was formed in 2021, with the JET framework being developed this year.
The framework puts South Africa on a path towards reaching climate and development aspirations, implementing policies and measures that support environmental justice and equity, and ensuring progress toward the national goal of reaching climate resiliency and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Five days earlier the PCC held community consultations toward the implementation of a JET for South Africa in the local municipality of Govan Mbeki Local Municipality.
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) collaborated with Power Africa, a U. S. Government-led partnership, to provide technical assistance and capacity building to support municipalities in managing existing energy infrastructure, increasing electricity access, introducing novel energy solutions and participating in the country’s JET.
Some initiatives that are underway in Mpumalanga include:
The establishment of the Mpumalanga Green Cluster Agency, decommissioning of Komati with investment in local economic diversification and establishment of a renewable energy training centre with the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre (Saretech).
The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) investment plan which contains a fund for supporting socially owned renewables and local economic diversification and skills development among others is also amongst the initiatives on the table.
Dr Silas Mulaudzi from Salga also presented on lobbying and representation of Local Government in JET consultations.
It was stated that with the energy transition underway in South Africa, and an increase in the installation of embedded generation from different customers, municipalities will need to change their business model to adapt to the transition, such as becoming network service providers in order to optimise their network asset.
The local government representative is of the view that to achieve JET, municipalities will require significant capital mobilisation.
Salga will continue to lobby and advocate for municipalities to get an appropriate portion of the US$ 8.5b JET climate financing package in support of a local government just transition.
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