Creecy welcomes progressive carbon tax increases

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has welcomed the announcement by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana that government plans to progressively increase the carbon price every year to reach $20/t of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) by 2026, $30/t of CO2e by 2030 and $120/t of CO2e by 2050. “This policy trajectory for the carbon tax really will be very helpful in allowing us to achieve the Nationally Determined Contribution that we submitted for 2025 and 2030 to the United Nations in October last year,” she noted.
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Nersa approves 9.61% Eskom hike for 2022/23

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) announced on Thursday that Eskom’s tariff would rise by 9.61% on April 1, an increase that is less than half the 20.5% hike for which Eskom had applied. The tariff decision includes allowable revenue of R250-billion, against the R293-billion for which Eskom applied, which translates to a sub-inflation increase in the retail tariff of 3.49%.
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South Africa targets cable thieves holding economy to ransom

South Africa’s government intends making it mandatory for all metal traders to get licenses and prevent them from dealing in cash, a measure aimed at combating a massive illegal trade in cables and wiring stripped from rail, power and telecommunication lines. Traders will also be required to conduct due diligence on their customers and track the origins of their products, the National Treasury said in the annual budget review, which was published in Cape Town on Wednesday.
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DSI’s Maserumule reiterates South Africa’s green hydrogen ambitions

South Africa is looking to build out funding opportunities and partnerships with international donors and countries that are aiming to decarbonise their own economies through the use of green hydrogen, Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) hydrogen and energy chief director Rebecca Maserumule said this week. In an address at the Energy & Mines virtual summit, on February 23, she outlined the highlights of South Africa’s newly released Hydrogen Society Roadmap, which was unveiled by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande earlier in the month.
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Local nuclear technology conference to be held next month

The Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (Niasa) has confirmed that it will co-host a nuclear conference next month. Called the Nuclear Technology Imbizo 2022, the conference’s other co-hosts will be the South African Young Nuclear Professionals Society, Women in Nuclear South Africa, and the Southern African Radiation Protection Society. The Imbizo will be held at the Cape Town International Conference Centre and take place on March 16 and March 17. The association highlighted that South Africa had suffered from “massive loadshedding” (power cuts or outages) imposed by the State-owned national electricity utility Eskom over the past couple of years, including during this year already. Most of the breakdowns that triggered this loadshedding had occurred and were occurring in the utility’s fleet of coal-fired power stations. Further, under the Integrated Resource Plan 2019, 11 500 MW of this coal capacity would have to be decommissioned from 2030 on.
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