Climate change was no longer debatable at Eskom, and was receiving a significant amount of attention from the electricity utility’s Research and Innovation department.

In terms of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission mitigation, the ideal was said to be that emissions peak in 2015 and decline thereafter, but University of Cape Town Energy Research Centre associate professor Harald Winkler indicated that South Africa was “not going anywhere near that at the moment”. He added, however, that there was significant emission reduction potential in the electricity sector, as well as the building sector.

South Africa was a signatory to the United Nations Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, but, as a developing country, did not have quantified mitigation commitments under the protocol.

“I think South Africa has been playing quite a pioneering role in discussing issues of what developing country commitments would look like,” Winkler said, and indeed, prominent business leaders, such as Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga, and government Ministers, like Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, have pledged their commitment to making climate change a top priority.

The important issue for South Africa now was to ensure that emissions were “measurable, reportable and verifiable” as defined by the Kyoto Protocol for Annex 2 countries. This could also gain the country recognition for its efforts in this regard, and it could benefit from financial support and technology transfer from Annex 1 countries under the Kyoto Protocol, with binding emission reduction targets.

When considering the question of where South Africa ranked globally as an emitter, Winkler asserted that what mattered was what was counted when such comparisons were made. “Are you looking at annual emissions or cumulative emissions,” Winkler asked, and added that it was cumulative emissions that were of the greatest concern as the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was what caused global warming.

There was no simple answer to the question, and a number of differing answers were given, depending on what was counted. If cumulative CO₂ emissions between 1950 and 2000 from energy sources were considered, South Africa ranked fourteenth in the world. If one considered annual emissions for the year 2000, including all six GHGs, with land use, land change, and forestry taken into account, South Africa came in at No. 21.

As South Africa’s electricity generation was carbon intensive, and over 90% of power generated came from coal, Winkler commented that emission mitigation options in the electricity sector were numerous.

Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar thermal must play a role he stated, as well as nuclear power generation, demand-side management programmes could also contribute, and he was adamant that the implementation of energy efficiency measures was a “no-brainer” when it came to lowering emissions. He added that cleaner coal technologies, such as carbon capture and sequestration, and underground coal gasification could also make an impact.

“Planning is important,” Winkler stated, and Eskom technology and strategy planning manager for sustainability Siven Naidoo, concurred.

Naidoo stated that it had been put forward that the cost of adaptation to the effects of climate change could exceed between 5% and 10% of a country’s gross domestic product.

The effects of climate change were believed to be general warming, disruption of rainfall patterns, resulting in an increase of arid and semi arid land, which would mean declining agricultural yields, coastal flooding in low-lying areas, stress on water potentially impacting on food supplies, ecosystems shifts and degradation of mangroves and coral reefs, affecting fisheries and tourism. Adaptations and interventions to deal with these effects would be important.

“These interventions will have certain energy requirements, and it is important that we start planning for this as well,” Naidoo said.

The Eskom research and innovation department’s climate change strategy dealt with a number of adaptation issues. Some guiding factors for the strategy were highlighted, such as the need for partnerships, as well as an ambitious and bold strategy built on technological, economically viable, and sustainable principles. The need for an integrated approach addressing short- medium- and long-term issues, which addressed blue sky and applied or operational needs was emphasised.

Naidoo mentioned mitigation options in end-user energy efficiency and conservation, power generation, carbon capture and storage, alternative energy sources, and agriculture and forestry.

Eskom’s research and development climate change strategy was clustered around certain nodes, namely energy efficiency, thermal efficiency, power imports, nuclear technology, carbon capture and storage, renewables, and socio economics.

He concluded by saying that, with regard to the department’s climate change strategy, intentions, targets, budgets and dates had been developed, were being debated internally and would undergo a peer review before they were formalised. Thereafter, an action plan with road maps and strategies would be implemented. Partnerships with local and international institutes and departments would also ensure synergies where necessary.