Opinion: South Africa's energy sector needs a transition plan
- csrice8
- Aug 16, 2017
- 1 min read
CAPE TOWN - South Africa still has years of coal mining ahead, but according to a 2010 study on peak coal production in South Africa, the amount and quality of coal will decrease from 2020 onwards.
Extraction, hampered by water shortages and the depth of the coal reserves, will become more difficult.
Furthermore, global coal consumption has fallen for the past two years, a trend that will affect the demand for coal exports. Domestic use of coal for electricity and synthetic fuel production must reduce to meet our climate change commitments. These are all signs of a transition away from coal.
In a 2017 study by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (Iddri) and Climate Strategies titled Lessons from previous coal transitions, they looked at 6 different countries and the transitions they made away from coal.
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