In South Africa, people are regularly plunged into darkness. The electricity network, which revolves almost exclusively around coal, does not always manage to meet demand. Hopes then turned to a transition plan financed by Western countries, called “Partnership for a just energy transition”. Details will be laid out at COP 27, which begins on Sunday 6 November. We already know the main lines: it will be financed to the tune of nearly 8.5 billion euros by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the World Bank.
Its main purpose is to enable Eskom, the national electricity company, to turn to energy sources other than coal and to plan the conversion of power stations. While South Africa is the twelfth highest emitter of greenhouse gases, thehe South African authorities insist on the importance of the “just transition”. They do not want the coal-producing areas to be abandoned, as feared by the approximately 90,000 people who work in these mines.
So that the opportunities linked to new energy sources benefit everyone, development projects for the green hydrogen and electric vehicle sectors are included in this transition plan. Lhe G7 countries have already announced that they want to launch a similar partnership with Senegal, Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
While many are waiting to see how the South African agreement will be implemented, several challenges still need to be addressed. To start with the amount allocated, which may seem generous, but which is only a drop in the bucket compared to the other investments that will have to be found: an independent report estimates that it will eventually take nearly 250 billion euros to the country to complete its transition.
There is also the question of the form that this aid will take. Most of it is expected to be loans, which risks adding a bit more debt burden to South Africa. Finally, if the country painfully accepts to turn the page on coal, gas resources are still coveted, with in particular a project by the TotalEnergies group which wishes to exploit deposits off its coasts. It’s sWe can’t count on the fact that the energy crisis, which has pushed Europe to massively increase its coal imports from South Africa, gives food for thought to the detractors of this agreement.