South Africa’s Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy says the COP26 climate talks scheduled for Glasgow, Scotland, in November need to prioritise the securing of finance, technology and capacity building support from developed to developing countries. Addressing a virtual event on Monday, Creecy reiterated that Africa – which had contributed only one percent of global emissions historically and was already being unfairly burdened by the effects of climate change – required such support if it was to turn its climate change liability into a new opportunity for green growth and job creation.
The third phase of the Wind Atlas South Africa (Wasa 3) project has developed free-to-use wind resource estimation methods, data and tools that private and public organisations can use to inform decisions and policies. These can also be shared with the rest of Africa and the world to support wind energy use for sustainable development, says United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) South Africa resident representative Dr Ayodele Odusola.
Stationary manufacturer BIC South Africa has declared that 100% of its electricity use at its Johannesburg-based stationery manufacturing plant is now green. The announcement comes four years ahead of schedule and is a first for BIC factories on the African continent.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports in its ‘Global Hydrogen Review 2021’ report, released on October 4, that although investment is increasing in hydrogen projects to support a clean energy transition, further efforts are needed to reduce costs and encourage wider use across sectors.
As such, the agency says governments need to move faster and more decisively on a range of policy measures to enable low-carbon hydrogen to fulfil its potential to help the world reach net-zero emissions, while also supporting energy security.
State-owned utility Eskom says the rejection, by the Energy Regulator, of its latest allowable-revenue application has created a regulatory vacuum for the electricity supply industry. “Eskom is accordingly considering how to proceed, and is taking advice on its position following the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) decision,” the utility said in a statement on Friday.
US Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Dr Jonathan Pershing has described South Africa’s latest climate pledge as “extraordinary” and says the US and other donor countries will seek to support South Africa’s ambition to transition to a decarbonised economy “by the middle of this century” with concessional finance. Pershing visited South Africa this week as part of a broader delegation of climate envoys from the UK, France, Germany and the European Union during which meetings were held with government Ministers and officials, trade unions, business and civil society.
The UK government has released regulatory consultation proposals for the regulation of future nuclear fusion technology and power plant design, development, construction and operation. These were contained in a document called the Fusion Green Paper, which was published on Friday. The public and industry have until December 24 this year to submit their comments, suggestions, concerns and other responses to the proposals. Whereas nuclear fission (used in all existing nuclear power plants) releases energy by splitting atoms, nuclear fusion releases energy by smashing together atoms (specifically, hydrogen atoms). Fusion is the process that fuels the Sun and all other stars. Fusion would not have issues fission has, such as having to store and reprocess spent fuel, or having to deal, after decommissioning, with large and highly radioactive components. The main waste product from fusion would be (non-radioactive) water.
BP and Eni are seeking to raise up to $2-billion for their emerging oil and gas joint venture in Angola as both firms attempt to reduce their own debt to help build up renewables businesses, banking and industry sources said. BP and Eni announced in May that they had entered into talks to merge their oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations in Angola to form one of Africa’s largest energy companies.
Western fossil fuel companies investing in Africa face a significant risk of regulatory action that’s getting more explicit as the world moves to try to tackle dangerous climate change, a US climate envoy said on Friday. During a virtual media briefing while in South Africa as part of a continental trip, US Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Jonathan Pershing urged investors to consider whether investing in fossil fuels was worthwhile.
Zimbabwe has allowed the export of 200 000 t of excess power coal because of limited intake at its biggest coal-fired power plant, which is beset by frequent breakdowns, the coal producers association said on Friday. The Southern African nation’s six coal miners have a standing arrangement to supply 300 000 t of coal to Hwange power station every month but constant breakdowns of ageing equipment mean the plant is taking in less coal.
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