Tag: carbon emissions

Have COVID-19 changed world views or will we have forgotten about everything in six months? Before 2020 when you heard the word virus you immediately thought of the damage this could do to your computer. Losing data was the worst outcome you could think of. Until COVID-19 hit, changing the world and the way we think.

South Africa remains in a dire energy crisis with utility costs having increased by 17% most recently and with the local provider desperately needing an additional 5,000 megawatts of generating capacity. And, if we consider that almost 77% of South Africa’s primary energy needs are reliant on coal, then there is no doubt that we are heading towards not only an energy, but an environmental crisis too.

Demonising oil and gas companies is not a constructive way forward on energy transition. Africa will push for 'the Right to Drill'. African nations must and will take advantage of their hydrocarbon resources for economic development. Environmental sustainability is a part of it, not an impediment.

It’s a sobering thought, but South Africans have a serious climate change problem. As the world’s 14th largest emitter of carbon dioxide, we have a massive role to play in responding to climate change, and a duty to the planet to shift to a lower-carbon economy. As a signatory to the 2015 Paris Accord, United Nations member countries agreed to hasten their transition to a low-carbon future.

The UN has estimated that the global population will near 11.3 billion by 2060, with Africa expected to experience just as much exponential growth (2.5 billion by 2050), which will represent about 26% of the world's total population.

Although South African business leaders may feel somewhat besieged by bad news and murmurs of ‘unbearable’ Eskom tariff hikes, tech-fuelled innovation is providing business with new options to lower energy consumption.