Timber wood
Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy.
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment/
- Creecy expects the long-delayed implementation plan for the
$8.5 billion climate pact to be completed by COP28. - The pact was announced at COP26 two years ago, but most of
the funding can’t flow until the implementation plan is finalised. - The plan has also been delayed by the energy crisis.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy
said she expects the long-delayed implementation plan for an $8.5 billion
climate pact with some of the world’s richest nations to be completed by the
COP28 summit that starts on 30 November.
The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnership, which aims
to help coal-dependent South Africa transition to cleaner energy, has been
slowed by infighting, with opposition coming from politicians close to the coal
lobby and labour unions concerned about job losses.
Coal is currently used to generate more than 80% of South
Africa’s power.
While initially announced at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in
2021, most of the funding can’t flow until the implementation plan, to be
formulated by the government, is complete.
READ | Creecy: Climate finance shouldn’t worsen Africa’s
debt burden
South Africa’s pact with France, Germany, the UK, US and
European Union is the first of its kind. The Netherlands and Denmark are also
in talks to join the JETP, Bloomberg has previously reported.
Dan Jorgensen, Denmark’s environment minister, confirmed in
an interview that his country was engaged in talks but declined to elaborate.
Similar plans are now being pursued with Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal.
“We want to conclude issues around the implementation
plan ahead of COP28,” Creecy said in an interview at the Africa Climate
Summit in Kenya’s capital Nairobi this week.
The plan has also been delayed by the energy crisis in South
Africa, with the government having made it clear to the foreign partners that
energy security is a key priority, according to the minister.
While the country will stick to its emission reduction
targets, the planned closure of coal-fired generation units will be delayed,
including those at the Camden plant that are next in line to be decommissioned,
Creecy said.
“We are not going to take those units at Camden off
production,” she said, citing ongoing widespread power cuts, which are
being instituted for more than 10 hours a day this week. “We can’t.”