South Africa’s Split Personality
No commentsA day before the Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention (the UNFCCC) started in the Danish capital, South Africa announced a reduction in the growth of its fossil fuel emissions. Now however, environmental groups accuse the continent’s economic powerhouse of hypocrisy.
The emissions move, announced on President Zuma’s website, initially garnered wide support. Greenpeace hailed South Africa as “one of the stars of the negotiations” and voiced the hope it would push industrialised countries to put tangible cuts on the table.
European Commission negotiator Karl Falkenberg this week said the EU is looking for a constructive attitude from emerging economies. “The little ‘c’ of ‘common’ is always overlooked in the negotiations”, he said, referring to the UNFCCC’s principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in fighting climate change.
“Developing countries also have a contribution to make to reducing greenhouse gases. Of course the EU doesn’t expect countries to reduce emissions immediately, but to reduce the growth is a good start.”
However, South African environmental groups say their government’s proposal is a non-starter which doesn’t reflect what is really going on in the country’s energy sector.
“National power utility Eskom just brokered a $3.75 billion deal with the World Bank to put up two large coal-fired plants,” retorted Sisiwe Khanyile from Groundwork, a South African climate justice group. “They are pushing to get this figure increased to $5 billion, which if approved will be the largest single loan the Wold Bank has ever given an African country. It also will be more than double the Bank’s global budget for renewable energy.”
The plants, Kusile and Medupi, are being constructed in the rural Limpopo and Mpumalange provinces and will bebamong the largest coal-fired energy plants in the world. Out of South Africa’s 44,000 megawatts, some 37,000 come from coal-fired plants. At present a mere 2,000 megawatts is derived from renewable energy projects.
“The World Bank doesn’t live by its own rules”, said Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of The Earth International. “It finances large-scale unsustainable power generation in an age when such projects should not even be considered. Leave oil in the soil and coal in the hole!”
Khanyile thinks the argument that South Africa needs the investments in its troubled power sector to uplift its poor is misrepresented: “After they have used their free 50 kilowatts, the poor pay a rate that’s three times higher than that of industry, which is by far the largest consumer.”
Although the South Africans boast that they have secured hundreds of millions for renewable energy projects, the campaigners object that this constitutes just a small percentage of the World Bank loan. “It’s a renewable energy fig leaf”, says Khanyile. “There is no convincing evidence that Eskom is leaning towards renewables. At best its plans show a renewable sector accounting for only two per cent of generating capacity by 2020.”
“It’s an example of South Africa’s split personality”, commented Ferrial Adam from Earthlife Africa. “This World Bank loan locks South Africa onto a path of unsustainable emissions.”
