South Africa’s World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) is hoping to initiate discussions, and possibly also commission some analytical work on what the constraints and opportunities for the country’s transition to low-carbon economy are.

“There are a lot of outstanding questions. We can talk very idealistically about a low-carbon economy, but there is a real economy in which this has to take place. And we want to understand the dynamics of that real economy, to understand what is possible and what is not possible,” explains WWF living planet unit head Saliem Fakir.

The transition to a ‘low-carbon economy’ is not a new concept, merely a new way of phrasing it. It encapsulates the need for economic development, but highlights that this should be achieved in tandem with lowering carbon-dioxide (CO₂) emissions and including renewable energy into the energy mix, boosting energy efficiency, and changing consumption behaviour. Because people are often unaware of the embedded energy in many everyday products and services.

Fakir emphasises that in South Africa, one of the areas of intervention that is required in the macro-economy, is fiscal reform, and particularly a green technology uptake and acceleration. “If there is an emergence of new types of business in what is called the ‘green economy’, or clean-tech sector – it may require a stimulus package for green jobs,” says Fakir.

In February, the government touched on this in its national response to the fiscal crisis. “This was done in vague and broad terms, there was use of the phrase ‘green recovery’ and what this means still has to be unpacked, but ‘green recovery’ is part of the whole low-carbon economy package,” Fakir continues.

The US and China have also placed an emphasis on ‘green recovery’ in their substantial fiscal stimulus plans. Fakir notes that the WWF wants to get an idea of what is possible in South Africa. “We probably don’t have a lot of money to throw at this, but then what - how does one find capital to make this transition?” This is a question that would be dealt with at the envisaged low-carbon economy stakeholder meetings.

“In South Africa we haven’t developed a vision, but we can’t continue to be locked into a carbon-based economy. We need discussions with all constituencies, and we need to put a programme in place. It will take years, and I don’t think WWF can take it all the way, but we can plant the seed. Embed it and create the future pathway,” Fakir tells Engineering News Online.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

“We are also very interested in technology,” reiterates Fakir. “We will, in the next two months or so, host a workshop with the University of Cape Town’s Energy Research Centre, looking at the potential to develop Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology in South Africa.”

“One could take a CSP unit, disassemble it and map out the different components – then investigate who could produce what; how much of it needs to be imported; what level of research and development spend needs to go into manufacturing of some of the other components, and so on,” he continues.

He adds that the WWF has had initial discussions with the automotive industry, which indicated that much of the machinery and equipment used by the industry, could easily be switched to manufacture some of the components for CSP.

“But in order to make the CSP a viable industry, you need to do this on a very large scale,” Fakir says, hinting at the need for a regulatory push from the public sector, in order to stimulate demand.

“It still won’t substitute base-load power. CSP has a niche – the highest capacity reached with a single CSP plant is probably about 100 MW,” he adds realistically.

If one wanted to produce an equivalent of a 600 MW from a CSP plant, to compete with baseload production of an equivalent coal-fired power station, massive amounts of land would be required, and something like that has never been operated on such a large scale.

However, Fakir argues that CSP is not the only answer, and there are different technology options. “But we need to unpack the actual industrial and manufacturing side of all of these, and that hasn’t been done yet.”

“If we move from the low 4% renewable energy target set out by government, to a 15% target, I think we could see a renewal of investment and job opportunities, especially now that a lot of our manufacturing capacity is not as robust as it used to be, and there is a need for expansion of manufacturing capacity in South Africa,” asserts Fakir.

Involvement would be required from the key players in the public sector, such as the departments of Water and Environmental Affairs, Science and Technology, Energy, as well as the Economic Development Department and the National Planning Commission.

“I understand that in the current economic environment it might not be a priority, but I do think that we need to do work, and at least try to make the case for the low-carbon economy, and present the vision. Get a discussion and engagement going around this,” he states.

CORPORATE CO-OPERATION

In addition to public sector participation, Fakir says that companies producing significant amounts of CO₂ emissions will soon be under serious pressure to deal with reducing emissions.

Noting the need for corporations to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Fakir says that the WWF has a ‘Climate Savers’ initiative, which is under way in the US and Europe, and the organisation hopes to replicate this programme in South Africa.

Under the initiative, companies, with the help of WWF, measure their direct and indirect GHG inventories, and make strategic decisions on how to reduce these over a three- to five-year period. There were about 30 US companies involved in the US climate savers initiative, ranging from companies like LaFarge, and IBM, to Johnson&Johnson.

Although South Africa did not have any legally binding emission reduction targets under the Kyoto protocol, it was uncertain how this might change after the Copenhagen climate negations, in December - which hoped to sculpt a new global agreement regarding climate change policy.

“Firms looking to be involved with the Climate Savers initiative now, would be ahead of the curve should South Africa take on legal and binding emissions targets,” says Fakir.

He adds that the WWF will likely target ten companies over the next five years to be involved in Climate Savers, although realistically, probably only two or three will take up the challenge in the first phase.

“Climate change is moving from government speak, to becoming a moral public issue - people are starting to see that CO₂ and carbon emissions are really just symptomatic of a larger issue that we all as human beings have to deal with, and that is sustainability and our survival into the future. The countries that are really going to succeed in this world are the ones that can successfully make this transition to a new energy paradigm,” concludes Fakir.