By Princess Mthombeni
It was on a Monday evening when I received a text message from my despairing friend, notifying me of her whereabouts.
She was at the court to rescue her little brother, who got arrested for “being in possession of a stolen cellphone”.
Apparently, the brother was at a local pub with his friend, having a great time. Then a friend decided to show him his new cellphone.
Like any good friend, he (brother) ecstatically took the cellphone and started scrolling through it, checking out some ‘cool’ features. Whilst at it, the police walked in, and the friend instantaneously escaped, leaving behind my friend’s brother, who, at that time, had this cellphone in his hand. As the saying goes, the rest is history.
Now let me get to the real reason behind the story about my friend’s brother. I will begin by giving more context to this discussion. Africa, which, according to the African Union, is made up of 55 states, is the most energy-poor continent in the world. According to the report published by Hawilti, a Pan African investment research firm, in February 2023, the average electricity use of a sub-Saharan African resident is lower than that of a household fridge in the US.
In their Africa Energy Outlook 2022 key findings, the International Energy Agency (IEA) mentions that 600 million people, which is 43% of the total population, lack access to electricity while 970 million Africans lack access to clean cooking, with the majority of them being in sub-Saharan Africa. This contributes to an increase in extreme poverty on the continent.
However, the real crime here is that the African continent is expected to take the lead in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions even though it accounts for less than 3% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions. Those who sell this idea use the most patronising reasoning that Africa is the “most climate-vulnerable region”.
The campaign to persuade African states to “reduce CO2 emissions” while further plunging itself into more poverty has grown even bigger, with concepts such as Just Energy Transition (JET) being promoted enormously.
In simple terms, JET is a strategy focusing on moving towards lower carbon technologies and away from fossil fuels. This is all part of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 in order to meet United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, Goals number 7 and 13. South Africa is one country that is aggressively running with this JET concept, with many government officials publicly promoting it.
It all began in 2022, when the country was promised money at the Climate Change Conference, famously known as “COP27”, which took place in Glasgow, UK. The international partners made up of European Union, France, Germany, the UK, and the US, committed to giving South Africa $8.5 billion (R162bn), which, in fact, is dominated by loans. The aim is to help South Africa accelerate the decarbonisation of its economy, so they say.
Furthermore, this commitment to move away from coal and increase renewable energy (wind and solar) has seen South Africa getting financial approval of $497 million from the World Bank Group to decommission one of the country’s oldest coal-fired power plant, Komati. The project involves re-purposing Komati with renewable energy plus a battery energy storage system.
According to the reports, the whole project is financed by a $439.5m World Bank loan, a $47.5m concessional loan from the Canadian Clean Energy and Forest Climate Facility (CCEFCF) and a $10m grant from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP). Notably, Komati, a gigawatt (GW) plant, will be replaced with 220 megawatt (MW) MW of solar PV, wind and batteries. This is worrisome for a country that is battling to keep the lights on.
Nevertheless, while in other nations, their plans equivalent to JET include nuclear, in South Africa, it is certainly not the case. Nuclear is not part of South Africa’s JET plan because the Presidential Climate Commission claimed that “traditional large-scale nuclear plants take longer to build and are costly”. This is despite the cost of 10 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity from Koeberg, a South African-only nuclear power plant, which the country’s power utility admits is the cheapest among other primary energy sources.
In addition, the issue of “costs” remains debatable, as it actually does not consider the total life cycle costs over the build, operate and retire life cycle, nor does it take into account the lower environmental footprint of modern Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).
Furthermore, this also ignores the fact that nuclear power plants have a lifespan of 40 to 80 years (and more) and offer reliable and clean base load electricity. Consequently, countries such as China, India, the UK, the US, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and many others are currently building nuclear power plants. This is in recognition of the fact that nuclear is a sensible thing to do if you want to grow the economy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
While South Africa is running with this JET plan, countries like Germany, Japan and South Korea, among others, continue to burn coal and even getting some of it from South Africa. Although these countries may be perceived as showing a blithe disregard for Net-Zero carbon emissions by 2050 targets, they are, however, demonstrating commitment to their economy and wellbeing of the citizens. A great lesson for African leaders.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if African countries were to focus on issues that are more urgent for their survival and for their citizens to lead ordinary lives just like the successful nations? A true “Batho Pele” (people first) principle approach. Whom would the rich nations persuade to shoulder the burden of reducing CO2 emissions? In all honesty, Africans have endured a lot while trying to play fair on an unlevel playing field.
Just like my friend’s brother, it appears that Africa is being prosecuted for the crime it did not commit, while the real climate delinquents escape accountability. Perhaps it is time for the international community to redirect their focus to those countries who account for the largest share of global greenhouse gas emissions and force them to take the lead in this journey to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. A JUST Africans would celebrate.
Princess Mthombeni known by many as “Princy” is a multi-award winning communication specialist and a founder of Africa4Nuclear from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She is also in charge of communication section at Economic Intervention Forum of South Africa.
Read the latest energy magazine below:
BUSINESS REPORT