Durban – Ambassador Anil Sooklal, told delegates attending the eThekwini Municipality’s Energy Summit on Tuesday that BRICS countries are uniquely positioned to support South Africa’s energy recovery.
The grouping of the leading emerging market economies consists of South Africa, Russia, Brazil, India and China.
Professor Sooklal, the Ambassador-at-Large for Asia and BRICS Department of International Relations and Co-operation said that BRICS countries contain almost half the world's population and account for approximately 40% of the world’s energy consumption.
“As BRICS we are responsible for 48% of the world's coal consumption, 22% of the world's oil consumption and 13.5% of the world's natural gas consumption.
“While renewable energy consumption is only 16% at the moment, BRICS renewable energy consumption has been growing year by year driven by most BRICS members' commitment to mitigating climate change and global low carbon development.”
Sooklal said part of South Africa's response to the energy crisis involves implementing a just transition to a low carbon economy.
“Climate change poses its own risks and constraints to economic growth in South Africa. We are among the most water-scarce countries in the world, and recent events here in KZN have shown that extreme weather events such as floods are occurring more often.”
He said the country’s Integrated Resource Plan, which drives the energy policy, envisions that in the next 10 years, coal, which currently accounts for 85% of South Africa’s electricity will drop below 60% by 2030.
“By that stage, solar energy is expected to be almost 20% and wind a further 8%, bringing the total contribution of renewables to around 25% in less than a decade.
“South Africa’s Just Transition Plan aims to significantly lower emissions of greenhouse gases and harnesses investments in new energy technologies, electric vehicles, and energy-efficient appliances.”
He said that crucially, this aims to ensure that communities tied to high-emitting energy industries are not left behind and are provided with new skills and new economic and employment opportunities.
Sooklal said in the renewable energy sector, solar power from South Africa, Brazil and India, wind power from Russia and China, as well as biomass from Brazil, all enjoy substantial resource advantages.
“Within BRICS, China is the world’s largest coal producer with 50% of the world’s output in 2020 and India 10%. Russia produced 12% of the world's oil and 16% of the world's natural gas. Brazil is rich in biomass energy and its output for 25% of the world's total biomass energy in 2020.”
He said the combination of natural resources, means that BRICS nations are major role-players in the global supply of energy and its dynamics.
“BRICS countries have developed similar energy policies to manage energy risks and have both expertise and technologies to use their energy resources to enhance energy security and cooperation,” said Sooklal.