South Africa is ranked among the world’s top 12 largest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters, largely due to dependence on plentiful coal for electricity generation and an energy-intensive industrial and mining sector. Under the Copenhagen Accord, South Africa committed to cut emissions by 34% from business as usual (BAU) by 2020, and by 42% by 2025. These targets represented a relative, not absolute, decline in emissions and are conditional on international support. They follow a “peak, plateau, decline” (PPD) trajectory, where GHG emissions should peak by 2020, plateau until 2030 and begin to decline after 2030.
South Africa faces many challenges: the economy is largely energy inefficient and resource-intensive, human development indices remain low, and inequality and unemployment are high. Energy- and other resource use patterns need to be addressed in order to move towards a sustainable, low-carbon and equitable country in a resource-constrained future.
This paper aims to identify opportunities for urban emissions reduction in South Africa. The key findings illustrate cities’ important role in reducing emissions in South Africa, including:
- c: The 18 major metropolitan areas and secondary cities in South Africa consume about 37% of the country’s energy, making them key drivers of change and players in South Africa’s economyities are key influencers of energy use
- energy consumption per capita is decreasing at the same time as the economy is growing: Over a 10-year period, South Africa’s metro areas have experienced positive shifts in their energy and emissions profiles. While energy consumption has increased in absolute terms (which is expected for a developing country and is linked to population and economic growth), per-capita electricity consumption has been decreasing since 2007
- city actions are likely making an impact: Although it is not possible to state conclusively that these changes are due to abatement measures undertaken by municipal policy-makers, it is clear that the mitigation measures to expand renewable energy, improve energy access and promote energy efficiency currently underway in urban areas are reducing emissions
- despite recent efforts, emission reductions from transport sector are limited: The transport sector is the dominant energy- consuming sector in most cities across the country. In spite of several important public transport interventions, urban transport is still characterized by inefficient, congested roads and a dependence on private vehicles. While a few urban areas have progressive spatial planning frameworks, the urban form has not changed significantly.
- national government action is needed to enable urban abatement: There is a substantial opportunity for emissions and energy reduction to be achieved at the city level in South Africa. Many cities have already implemented key strategies, but these need to be implemented to scale with greater vertical alignment and support from national government
-
Normal
0false
false
falseEN-GB
X-NONE
X-NONE/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}mitigation measures must help accelerate integration and access to social and economic resources: to realize the full potential from urban action, the next step will be to move the work and approaches from a slightly marginal concept of emissions reduction to the heart of the city’s planning engine: squarely promoting an urban infrastructure, economy and form that accelerates integration and access to social and economic resources while ensuring sustainability and developing a low-carbon economy. This may entail shifts between the spheres of government whereby national government enables local government to assume additional powers relating to electricity generation and their revenue models. It requires strong partnerships between business, civil society and all three spheres of government. It requires awareness and consciousness of what needs to shift. It requires getting practical and supporting that practice with the right policies, the right regulations and the right skills and capacity development. All of this is critical to the success of meeting South Africa’s climate response objectives and targets