Event in South Africa: Launch of the Climate Transparency Report 2021

On 20 October 2021, The Energy Systems Research Group (ESRG) at the University of Cape Town, South African Partner of Climate Transparency, organised the online launch of the Climate Transparency Report 2021 and the South Africa Country Profile.

During the event, the ESRG team presented main findings of the Climate Transparency Report and the South Africa Country Profile. Key themes in this year’s country profile presentation included:

• The power sector decarbonisation and reducing the reliance on coal through a just transition based on key graphs from the Climate Transparency Report;
• Increased renewable power investment – a preview of the modelling platform and initial findings on Net Zero 2050 scenarios – “Can South Africa achieve net-zero GHG emissions?”, developed under the banner of Climate Transparency.

Raising ambition requires tackling difficult decarbonisation challenges. In an attempt to understand pathways to Net Zero 2050 for South Africa, the ESRG modelled 64 scenarios using its SATIMGE modelling platform (which couples a complete national energy model to a computable general equilibrium macro-economic model) to understand those challenges. The presentation showcased, for the first time, some findings of the analysis of a net zero South Africa by 2050. The power sector was used as an example to discuss aspects of the modelling approach taken, key sector findings and opportunities.

The webinar gathered around 50 participants and the recording has been shared with others interested in the topic.