Findings from the second 'State of Climate Science and Technology in South Africa' report, compiled by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), include that the country is well positioned to play a key role in the Global Commission on Adaptation to advance climate change adaptation solutions.

The report also recommends, besides others, that investment in climate-related technologies would be more effective if it were better-coordinated across the many individual domains in which it occurs, namely the energy, water, infrastructure, agriculture and biodiversity sectors.

In some domains, there are potentially contradictory or counterproductive initiatives, which should be rationalised, the report adds.

The report includes chapters on recent climate-related research findings of policy relevance, the climate change science and technology (S&T) landscape in South Africa, investments in climate S&T, climate S&T in the private sector and an update on the legislative and policy environment.

It also contains appendices about leveraging international funding instruments for climate change-related research and technology development, and activities and investments by the private sector, as well as an update of the review of legislation and policy instruments for climate change research and technology in South Africa.

The report series aims to identify any gaps or barriers in research and technology development value chains and to suggest ways to improve the current situation and maximise opportunities for South Africa. The second report covers the period 2016 to 2017 and paid particular attention into investigating research and development activities relating to climate change adaptation and mitigation in the private sector, including relevant State-owned enterprises (SoEs).

Its recommendations include that South Africa can help to raise the overall climate change analytical capacity in Africa by fostering collaboration among research institutions in Africa, particularly between South Africa and other African countries.

The country should also continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of engagement in climate change-related S&T on a regular basis, building on the baseline established by the first and second biennial reports, and introducing metrics which enable the effectiveness of research to be tracked.

Further, the report recommends that South Africa build on successes in accessing international funding instruments for the support of climate change S&T by preparing project proposals for the several opportunities which are available to South Africa, but not yet used.

Additionally, the country should make maximum use of the apparently high demand for green funding instruments in the private sector and encourage private sector programmes to replace fossil fuel-based energy sources at enterprise level with renewable energy, and include this strategy in ongoing energy sector planning. To date, only a very small fraction of identified opportunities to do so has been realised.

"South Africa should strategically position itself as a world leader in relation to one or a few emerging low-carbon energy technologies. An example is concentrated solar power (CSP), a technology well suited to local conditions and skills, with the advantage of built-in storage, and where the market does not yet have a clear leader."

Other potential areas could include manufacture of components for renewable energy technologies and fuel cells, particularly where they require platinum-group metals.

"Government should create an enabling environment for small-scale embedded generation and energy efficiency incentives. Urgent attention to this domain is needed, given the rapid change towards smart grids and distributed generation globally, as well as the implications for municipal revenues when customers become suppliers," the report recommends.

Further, the country should learn from and build on the highly effective role that the Independent Power Producer Office played in accelerating the deployment of renewable energy. The approach can continue to be effective in that domain and for energy technologies more generally.

"A just transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society is a priority. The announcement of a Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission to coordinate and oversee the just transition is an important step," the report highlights.

CLIMATE S&T FUNDING
To fill the gaps in the first biennial report, two studies were commissioned to survey sources and levels of investment accessed through climate change international finance instruments and from the private sector.

The first biennial report suggested that national investment in climate-related S&T was in the order of R400-million a year. The more comprehensive funding-source evaluation indicates that the value is closer to R900-million a year.

Much of the difference relates to funds mobilised by the private sector (including SoEs) and support from international financial instruments, and it is largely spent on technology development in the climate mitigation space.

Of the 37 international instruments identified as available to fund investments in S&T for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, South Africa managed to access funding from only 16. Based on a detailed analysis of six international climate finance instruments, South Africa used more than one-third (36.9%) of all the funds approved for the entire sub-Saharan Africa.

To date, South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to access funds available through the Partnership for Market Readiness instrument, which supports the development of national programmes for enabling the use of market mechanisms to facilitate adoption and spread of climate mitigation innovations.

"This reflects the relative progress made in South Africa towards implementing market-based policy instruments for promoting low-carbon growth, compared with the rest of the continent. There is, however,potential for more external funding through other global finance instruments that are not yet utilised."

On the development side, the announcement of the discovery of a substantial gas resource about 200 km south of Mossel Bay could, if translated into an operational wellfield, help South Africa to meet its emission-reduction goals, partly by replacing coal and oil as fuels, but also by making it possible to increase the amount of solar and wind energy in the South African energy mix, the report states.

Further, in the technology implementation arena, the most recent round of bids for the provision of renewable energy to the South African grid have realised some of the lowest prices anywhere in the world, substantially lower than newly-build coal-fired plants or nuclear energy. Several experimental concentrated solar power plants, the result of earlier bids, have recently come on-line in South Africa.

PRIVATE INVESTMENT
Private sector investment into climate change activities has largely focused on mitigation, for which it is easier to establish a return on investment, than is the case for climate adaptation. The return can result either through the generation and sale of renewable energy, or through energy savings from increased efficiency.

Funded projects in the private sector including organic waste-to-energy and energy efficiency projects.

The newly-established Climate Finance Facility in the Green Fund is not yet operational. It will use its capital to fill market gaps and crowd in private investment, targeting commercially viable technologies that cannot currently attract market-rate capital at scale and will focus on infrastructure projects that mitigate or adapt to climate change.

Further, the Technology Innovation Agency funds the Climate Innovation Centre South Africa, which supports 34 companies in an early stage of development and which focus on the energy, waste and water sectors.

Government has developed a number of incentives to promote climate mitigation activities in the private sector.

These include tax incentives for companies implementing energy efficiency and Clean Development Mechanism projects, an accelerated depreciation allowance for investments in renewable energy and biofuels production, a levy on incandescent lightbulbs to incentivise the switch to more energy-efficient options, a tax on carbon emissions by vehicles to incentivise the switch to fuel-efficient vehicles, a levy on electricity consumption from non-renewable sources and the long-awaited carbon tax and associated carbon offsetting regime.

Further, there are few examples of climate-smart technology development by the private sector in South Africa, and the practice has largely been to implement or resell existing technologies, the report highlights.

However, there are some investments into research on new energy-related products, for example, research on clean coal technologies; research on platinum-group metals, since platinum is an excellent catalyst in fuel cells and would contribute towards the development of a local fuel cells manufacturing industry; and research on innovative energy storage mechanisms.

"Stakeholder input is vital to ensure that the information included is accurate and up to date. To inform and improve future reports, we would be pleased to receive any feedback from you, particularly insofar as your own organisation’s work is concerned," the academy said in a press release on August 13.