No satisfaction with Valli's action
Fiona Macleod
06 September 2002 07:00
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa played into the hands of the world's biggest polluters in order to settle the biggest fight at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
Moosa was chairperson of the ministerial committee that clinched agreement on energy and climate change -- the issue that earlier this week threatened to scupper summit negotiations. The leaders of more than 30 government delegations as well as critical NGOs described the 11th-hour settlement as the greatest single failure of the summit.
The biggest criticism was that all reference to targets for using renewable energy sources in supplying power to the estimated 2,5-billion people without it were dropped from the agreement. Instead, the deal calls for subsidies for "cleaner" fossil fuels and large hydroelectric schemes to be provided to developing countries.
Critics say the deal plays into the hands of the United States, Japan and the oil-producing countries, who all fear that a rise in renewable energy will hurt their own strong fossil fuel companies. The US -- which reportedly produces about 25% of the world's pollution -- was under particularly strong pressure from its oil companies, who part-funded President George W Bush's election and largely wrote that country's recent energy Bill.
South Africa is among the world's worst offenders when it comes to greenhouse gases, responsible for global warming. Research at the University of Cape Town (UCT) shows that, in relation to its population size and income, South Africa's CO2 emissions are far worse than even those of the US.
The country is also the world's second-largest exporter of coal -- one of the fossil fuel polluters -- after Australia and relies heavily on its abundant supply of low-grade coal to meet its own burgeoning power needs. This has a negative impact on the environment not just through emissions, but also in requiring vast amounts of coolant water. Eskom is reportedly the single largest consumer of raw water in South Africa.
Despite this grim picture, local politicians facilitating the WSSD this week were reluctant to set a target of renewable resources for South Africa's energy supply. They were, however, proud to point out that between 1994 and 2002 the country has provided new electricity sources to about three million households and that millions more connections across the continent are in the pipeline.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who acted as ex officio deputy president at the summit, said the government "recognises the importance of renewables". She expected a "respectable target" to be announced by the minister of minerals and energy in a few weeks' time.
Reuel Khoza, chairperson of Eskom and vice-chairperson of Business for Sustainable Development, reportedly expressed regrets during round-table discussions at the summit that targets would not be set for renewables.
"I see a future of plentiful, low-cost, high-quality renewable energy being made available to attract energy-intensive industries to the continent, while creating the foundation for related development goals such as continent wide electrification," Khoza said during a keynote address at a WSSD business lekgotla last weekend.
The potential for renewable energy is vast, given that South Africa has one of the highest solar insolation rates in the world. The country's annual solar radiation averages more than twice as high as Europe and 50% higher than the US, according to scientist Randall Spalding-Fecher, of UCT's Energy for Development Research Centre.
At the WSSD, Moosa's role as facilitator in the energy committee underscored
awkwardness for government negotiators -- who acted both as players and as hosts of the summit -- keen to see agreement reached.
As part of the G77 group of developing countries, South Africa was not directly represented in the energy negotiations. The G77 position was presented by Venezuela. This oil-producing South American country took a hard-line stance, siding with the US, Japan and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries against setting any renewables targets or reducing subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
When these countries got their way, it was widely interpreted as a trade-off for a deal on setting a target for access to water and sanitation. This target -- of halving the number of people who lack access to safe water and sanitation by 2015 -- is regarded as the most significant achievement of the WSSD. It is expected to save millions of children who die each year from diarrhoea and malaria.
Campaigners and a group of countries led by Brazil had been arguing for a similar target on renewables. They insisted the minimum target necessary to combat man-made climate change was for 10% primary energy supply to be produced from new renewable sources by 2010.
When Moosa's deal failed to deliver a target, or to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, they were outraged.
"After over a year of debate the WSSD energy section does not represent a single step forward," said Greenpeace climate policy director Steve Sawyer. "The plan of action is not much of a plan, and it contains almost no action."
Without a global target, the percentage of renewables will stay within national and regional targets adopted voluntarily by governments.
The leaders of more than 30 government delegations, including 15 states from the European Union which had fought hard for a binding agreement on renewable energy, pledged in the dying hours of the summit to carry on their fight.
They undertook a regular review of progress towards acceptable targets.
"Such targets are important tools to guide investment and develop the market for renewable energy technologies," they said in a statement.
----- Original Message ----- From: "James Heartfield" <Jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 1:32 PM Subject: Amateur hour in Jo'burg
> The WEEK
> ending 8 September 2002
>
>
> AMATEUR HOUR IN JO'BURG
>
> Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has been an activist in the African National
> Congress since the mid-seventies, when she left South Africa to lead the
> party's youth wing in Britain