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South Africa's Ramaphosa advises green energy to prevent carbon border tax

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa cautioned other developing countries on Monday that future carbon taxes proposed by rich nations would harm their economies unless they act quickly to ditch nonrenewable fuel source in favour of green energy.

Addressing a National Treasury and World Bank environment change conference in the capital Pretoria, Ramaphosa said the carbon strength of South Africa's economy, which relies heavily on burning coal to produce electrical power, was unsustainable.

For decades our dependence on coal ... enabled us to produce electricity cheaply. However the world has altered and this reliance has actually come to present substantial risks, he stated, chiefly carbon taxes proposed by trading blocs like the European Union.

Instruments like the European Union's Carbon Border Modification System ... (have) the possible to trigger great damage to developing economies, he said.

Information from think tank Ember reveals South Africa was the most carbon-intensive significant economy in 2022, producing 709 grams of co2 per kilowatt hour of energy generated.

That has put it in the world's leading 15 greenhouse gas emitters - above Turkey, Italy, France or Britain, according to watchdog Climate Transparency.

Ramaphosa highlighted the effect of storms last week around the city of Cape Town, which shut down the port and caused triggered destruction to homes, communities, companies and facilities, as an example of negative climate impacts.

The nations of the Global South ... feel the results of environment change most, regardless of being least accountable historically for international emissions, he said.

South Africa's new energy minister swore recently to speed up the transition to renewable resource, in a shift in rhetoric from his predecessor, a defender of the coal organization. Yet few details have emerged of how this will occur.

Western donors are offering billions of dollars in loans to fund the shift, but South African authorities say they hardly scratch the surface of the financing required.

The nation has some of the world's finest available sun and wind energy, yet years-long administrative delays to giving licenses and policy unpredictability has turned off investors, and last year the government delayed decommissioning 8 coal-fired power stations well into 2030, mentioning energy security.

(source: Reuters)