South Africa President Ramaphosa stresses country-led approach to energy transition

…urges flexibility, inclusivity

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has voiced his views on the energy transition, emphasising the importance of a “country-led and owned” strategy.

Speaking at the Financial Pact Summit in Paris, Ramaphosa highlighted the need to consider the experiences and challenges faced by poorer nations as the world undergoes the shift towards clean energy.

Ramaphosa acknowledged that the meaning of transition varies from country to country and emphasized that no one should be left behind in this journey, including those employed in the fossil fuel industry.

He emphasized the necessity of developing a just transition plan that takes into account the unique circumstances of each nation, considering issues such as unemployment, poverty, and historical divisions.

Addressing South Africa’s specific situation, Ramaphosa noted that certain fossil fuel power stations would remain operational during the transition process. He stressed the significance of flexibility and fairness in the energy transition, advocating for partnerships and substantial financing in the form of grants rather than loans.

He said, “A [transition] plan like this needs to be centred on poor countries’ experiences and challenges.

“It should never be imposed on any country. In our case, we’ve had to take into account our own experience as a nation and as a country where we are dealing with challenges such as unemployment and poverty, and also dealing with a history of division in our own country, racial division, and all that.

“So any plan of this nature that helps the country to transit needs to take into account the circumstances of any country that is going through this type of plan.

“We’ve had to say this should be a just transition, it must take into account the existential situation of various communities, particularly workers who work in fossil fuel establishments, what happens to them when we transit, to their job situations, communities who live in those areas. So all that needs to be taken into account.

“And any country that embarks on this journey must define what a just transition is going to be and what it is going to look like. So that whatever is done should not leave anyone behind.

“And right now the country is going through a major energy challenge because our energy generation is way below the needs of the country at the moment.

“So we’ve said that as we transit, as we implement this JETP we need to take into account that some of our fossil fuel power stations will need to remain in existence as we are traversing this journey. So it is important that that should be taken into account.”