President Cyril Ramaphosa says the investment plan for the Just Energy Transition investment plan will be finalised by October this year.
Ramaphosa set up the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team last year to mobilise funds for South Africa’s transition to clean energy.
South Africa had been given $8.5 billion (R152bn) by major powers including France, Germany, the US and UK for a Just Energy Transition programme.
But government has said recently it would not speed up the process of moving away from coal to renewable energy.
Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has said they need to delay the decommissioning of some of Eskom’s power stations to be able to deal with load shedding.
Ramokgopa had said despite several power stations identified for repurposing, they need to halt some of the projects until they have resolved the energy crisis in the country.
Ramaphosa, who was replying to a written parliamentary question from Samantha Graham from the DA, said the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team was set up early last year.
The task team will finalise the investment implementation plan by October this year.
“The Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) was endorsed by Cabinet in November 2022. Its implementation is ongoing and is currently managed by a Project Management Unit that reports to the Project Management Office in the Private Office of the President. The implementation plan for the JET IP is expected to be finalised in October 2023,” said Ramaphosa.
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe said they were working closely with the Presidential Climate Commission.
He said the move away from coal to renewable energy will not happen overnight.
A lot of factors would have to be taken into consideration when dealing with the just energy transition programme.
“The department is on record in saying that the transition programme is not an event, but a process that should not be rushed as it has to adequately respond to the needs of the people, central to which is the issues of retention of jobs, skills and reskilling of people and ensuring that no one is worse off.
“To this effect, the department is conducting analysis on social impacts, not only to understand the extent of the impact, but to also inform the decision-making process on the protection of jobs, and the required skills and reskilling, including the issues of health,” said Mantashe.
Mantashe, who was replying to another written parliamentary question from Good Party MP Brett Herron, said they were developing a framework to monitor the social and economic impact of the just energy transition programme.
The information obtained from this will determine what course of action the department will take.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics