As South Africa, in the context of climate action, our vision for 2050 is where low-carbon choices are affordable, reliable and accessible, where households and businesses benefit from cleaner energy, healthier environments and more resilient infrastructure, and where the transition supports livelihoods, skills development and economic opportunity.
South Africa should therefore be steadfast to meet the international commitment of the NDCs within the framework of our economy and its developmental objectives.
The vision combines a credible pathway to net-zero CO₂ by 2050 as espoused in our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and a transition that improves quality of life, strengthens resilience and reduces risks for workers, communities and businesses as articulated through the Just Transition Framework.
For industry, the vision is of a competitive and increasingly low-carbon industrial base. Energy and resource efficiency remain important, but deeper emissions reductions require structural change through electrification, lower-carbon fuels and feedstocks, new industrial processes, greater material efficiency and circularity, and targeted use of technologies such as green hydrogen and CC(U)S where other options are limited.
Industrial development opportunities
Industry is one of the more difficult parts of the economy to decarbonise.
Emissions arise both from the combustion of fuels for industrial heat and power and directly from industrial processes, including the chemical reactions used in the production of materials such as cement, iron and steel, ferroalloys and chemicals. Efficiency and cleaner electricity can reduce part of this emissions footprint, but deeper reductions require changes to fuels, feedstocks and production processes.
The transition also creates opportunities for industrial development. Building domestic capability in emerging low carbon value chains, technology development, engineering and manufacturing can help South Africa capture a greater share of the economic value associated with the transition.
Localisation needs to focus on areas where South Africa has realistic capabilities and competitive advantages rather than assuming that all transition technologies should be manufactured domestically.
Science, technology and innovation (STI) have a different but closely linked role. Its role is to develop and commercialise the technologies and innovation systems needed to address harder-to- abate emissions, including green hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CC(U)S), alternative industrial production processes and the technologies required to support a more flexible and decentralised energy system.
Innovation underpins this transition. The STI system needs to support research and development, demonstration, commercialisation, technology transfer and skills development so that emerging technologies can move from technical possibility to commercial deployment.
This is particularly important for technologies required later in the pathway because research, demonstration, infrastructure development and industrial investment all have long lead times.
Investment in innovation
Our venture to 2050 remains increasingly reliant on technologies and systems that are not yet available at the scale required. While many of these technologies are deployed in specific sectors, their development is a cross-cutting challenge for South Africa’s science, technology and innovation system.
The scale of innovation effort required and highlights the need to direct greater research and development effort towards technologies supporting the low-carbon transition, including decentralised energy systems, green hydrogen production and use, vehicle-to-grid applications, energy management and trading, and novel storage technologies.
The challenge is to ensure that research, demonstration, commercialisation, infrastructure, skills and regulatory systems develop early enough for these technologies to contribute when they are required
The role of STI is therefore broader than supporting industrial decarbonisation alone. It includes developing and commercialising green hydrogen and CC(U)S for hard-to-abate industry, but also advancing energy storage, decentralised electricity systems, and potential sources of low-carbon firm power.
Delivering these technologies requires a well-charged innovation system capable of moving ideas from research through demonstration to commercial deployment. But technological development alone is insufficient - development finance, venture capital and industrial partners are also needed to support demonstration and commercialisation.
Technology transfer is equally important, to ensure building capabilities in new technologies and production systems to support competitiveness and employment, while failure to adapt may expose emissions-intensive industries to increasing market and trade pressures. This includes the local manufacture of solar technologies, wind-energy components, inverters, batteries and electrolysers. The opportunity extends beyond manufacturing individual components to engineering, systems integration, operation, maintenance and adaptation of technologies to South African conditions.
South Africa faces significant challenges with poverty and inequality. Industrial policy, innovation policy and climate policy therefore need to complement one another.
Climate change has the potential to undo much of the developmental progress which has been made over the last few decades. The transition will also affect workers, industrial regions and supply chains differently. Skills development, worker transition support and regional economic planning will be important where existing technologies or activities decline.
The challenge is therefore to reduce industrial emissions while strengthening productive capability, managing environmental impacts and ensuring that the benefits and costs of industrial transformation are not unfairly and unevenly harvested or borne.
* Blessing Manale, Executive Manager Consensus Building, Communications and Outreach, Presidential Climate Commission.
**The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Media Group.