Expecting South Africa to go green from its heavy reliance on 75 percent fossil fuel energy by 2030 would “be unfair,” Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Africa Energy Week Conference in Cape Town, Mantashe said it was unfair to expect South Africa and other developing countries to abandon fossil fuels in favour of green energy.
He said South Africa could not commit itself to using only green energy at this stage because the country’s energy production was heavily reliant on coal.
“Coal supplies 75% of our energy. By 2030, we want it to be under 60%. So, I don’t know whether that is not moving away, or switching it off immediately,” Mantashe said.
The minister said this in the shadow of COP 26 Glasgow in Britain where the topic of the day is to abandon using fossil fuels over the next few years.
Mantashe noted that most developed nations are themselves still heavily relying on fossil fuels for their industrial development.
He said South Africa would work towards meeting the UN goals without necessarily hurting the country’s economy.
“By 2030, we want coal to be supplying under 60% of our energy. We are planning to have renewables, and increase their role by 18% during the same period,” Mantashe said.
NM/jn/APA