Durban — Delegates attending the BRICS youth summit in Durban on Wednesday unanimously said an equitable just energy transition was essential to building a more sustainable and equitable future.
BRICS is an acronym for the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa.
Delegates stressed that by working together, the youth of the world could ensure that everyone benefited from the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Dwala Mining managing director Noluthando Zulu said an equitable energy transition was a process of moving to a low-carbon energy system fair and equitable for all people.
“We should strive for the creation of opportunities in the private sector so that they provide opportunities to those youths who want to be partners in the transition processes. We have to look at how soon this transition can take place. Energy transitioning is not new. In the olden days the forefathers were cutting wood to make fire for cooking and other purposes. It is said that about 700 million people are still without electricity in the world, and we need to work hard to afford our people cheap and cleaner energy sources,” Zulu said.
He added that green energy transition, looking at the prospects of using platinum and copper, which are in abundance in Africa, would make the best components of the green energy creation.
He said energy transition was imperative to create clean energy for the world’s populations.
Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (Chieta) chief executive Yershen Pillay said green hydrogen brought abundant opportunities.
“This can be relied upon, even though our country still relies on its mixed-energy policy that involves using coal and also clean energy sources such as solar power.
“Many people still have no clue of what green energy is, and it is up to us to ensure that the future energy sources rely on this. We need platforms for collaboration because of the abundant opportunities and prospects that are presented by the green hydrogen energy sources.
“If we don’t seize the opportunity, someone will. The poor working classes must also be included in this aspect, to be part of these new developments. Governments must also look at supporting small businesses that can be funded to enter the green energy spectrum. The education sector must also look at curriculum change, with the inclusion of green energy in the school curriculum,” Pillay said.
The National Treasury’s director of climate finance, Gcobisa Magazi, said the Treasury had been doing a lot of work around energy transition to enforce environmental support and changes. She said natural disasters had influenced the way the government should be doing things. It had forced the Treasury to convert some of its resources and channel them towards dealing with the challenges presented by these disasters.
“Disaster management therefore looks at the means and ways we have to finance the scope of natural disasters, and how we can improve the resilience of the country’s metros and local municipalities. Climate finance of the working group (was) set up by the National Treasury to help deal with these challenges. We have to look into inter-governmental budget systems to achieve these scopes of energy sources,” Magazi said.
Rudi Dicks, the head of the Project Management Office in the Presidency said grant funding should be made available for skills transfer to trickle down to all of the world’s youth.
“Many young people with boiler-making skills, artisans and electricians can feed into this industry. That is where the private sector should come into place, in order to give these people access to opportunities to hone their skills.
“Transition must be determined by the specific country conditions. We need to manage it as best we can. Coal miners have lost their jobs, therefore the process of transitioning should be well-managed.
“The cost of transition cannot be shifted to the developing countries. We are in this mess because of the developed countries who have over the years (been) spewing air pollution from their industrial actions,” Dicks said.
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