Energy transition must not be imposed on poor nations, says Ramaphosa at Paris summit

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says energy transition must be “country-led and owned”. 

Speaking at the financial pact summit in Paris on Thursday, Ramaphosa said the experience and challenges of poor countries must be considered as the world makes the shift to clean energy.

He said transition means different things for different countries and no one deserves to be left behind in the journey – including those who work in fossil fuel establishments.

Ramaphosa said some of South Africa’s fossil fuel stations will remain active as the country nagivates the transition journey.

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

“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.”

‘ENERGY TRANSITION MUST BE FLEXIBLE’

The South African president said the energy transition must be flexible and fair, adding that it requires partnerships and heavy financing that comes as grants rather than loans.

He said South Africa is going through an energy shortage challenge and still has a 90 percent dependence on fossil fuels.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

BALANCE BETWEEN FOSSIL FUELS, CLEAN ENERGY

South Africa is not the only country that has called for an energy transition that involves a mix of fossil fuels and renewables.

Following the global call for an “urgent transition” to renewable energy, developing countries, mostly in Africa, have been calling for a just transition; one that still allows them to ramp up development in their countries using fossil fuels.

On Monday, TheCable reported that President Bola Tinubu said the world must find a balance between clean energy and fossil fuels in the drive for energy transition, in order to enable Africa to address its poverty challenges.

The Nigerian president spoke during a meeting with a US energy delegation in Abuja.

Tinubu is also attending the global financial pact summit in Paris, France.