By giving the green light for the Just Transition Framework, President Cyril Ramaphosa is making great strides in South Africa’s move away from coal dependency.
Alok Sharma, the president of COP26, proposed this framework in June 2022 under the Presidential Climate Commission. The deal involves an $8.5 billion (R140 billion) investment in South Africa in a partnership between the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
It is expected that the investment, as well as policies and protocols by various social partners, will lessen the economic and social impacts of moving away from coal energy dependency.
The policies and protocols will promote renewable energy, new energy vehicles, and hydrogen economy expansion, according to BusinessTech.
South Africa’s investment plan will be drafted in July 2022 and finalised in November 2022.
In recent months, Eskom, the national power utility, has been under serious strain due to its over-reliance on coal for energy. South Africa’s current load shedding schedule involves power blackouts three times a day. Some blackouts can last for up to four hours depending on the region or district.
Picture: Unsplash
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