APA-Pretoria (South Africa) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, attending the New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris, said the gathering was a valuable platform for engagement that needed to complement – but not to supersede – the discussions in the appropriate multilateral climate forums, particularly the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The two-day summit, which ends on Friday in the French capital, seeks to build a new contract between the global north and south to drive access to financing for the new just energy transition.
Speaking during a roundtable discussion, Ramaphosa said more emphasis must be placed on the just component of the transition – in both the structuring of the investment plan and the corresponding financing package.
“Countries going through a just energy transition need to be clear about how they define ‘just’, particularly with respect to social impact,” Ramaphosa said.
He added: “Given South Africa’s current energy crises, we have come to realise that flexibility is key.”
According to the South African leader, countries must be able to decide on a transition pathway that took into consideration development objectives such as energy security.
And the just energy transition partnerships must translate into tangible financial support, he said.
In November 2021, South Africa announced a historic Just Energy Transition Partnership with France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as the European Union, which pledged US$8.5 billion to the country’s just energy transition programme.
But the amount was less than a tenth of what would be needed in the next five years for a meaningful and just transition as South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan needed nearly US$98 billion to be implemented, Ramaphosa said.
NM/jn/APA