Pretoria – South Africa has taken part in the eighth Clean Energy Ministerial Conference in China in order to observe international best practices as the country works towards meeting its energy objectives.
“Having acceded to the Paris Agreement, South Africa is also keen to learn from the best practices that would assist us in meeting our energy objectives, including improving our energy security, creating jobs, localisation of technologies, increasing access to energy, reducing water consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and diversifying the energy mix,” said the Department of Energy on Thursday.
South Africa was represented by Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi at the conference.
The Paris Agreement, which will be fully operational by 2020, is premised on the contributions determined by countries themselves towards collectively agreed global goals.
Held from 6 - 8 June 2017 in Beijing, the Clean Energy Ministerial Conference (CEM8) brought together 25 countries to deliberate on matters of common interest in the field of clean energy development.
South Africa is one of the countries constituting the Clean Energy Ministerial Conference.
The purpose of CEM8 was for the various participating countries to share their experiences, lobbying, initiatives and programmes in the renewable energy sector and energy efficiency space, in line with their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make the transition to a low carbon economy.
BRICS Energy Ministers meeting
Meanwhile, Minister Kubayi also participated in the BRICS Energy Ministers meeting convened on the sidelines of CEM8.
The Ministers reiterated their belief that renewable and clean energy, research and development of new technologies and energy efficiency can constitute an important driver to promote sustainable development, create new economic growth and reduce energy costs.
The Ministers agreed to explore the feasibility of establishing a BRICS Energy Research Cooperation Platform.
The next BRICS Energy Ministerial Meeting will be held in South Africa in 2018.
Nuclear
Minister Kubayi held bilateral discussions with heads of delegations of some nuclear vendor countries such as France, China and Russia, who availed themselves for matters on broader nuclear cooperation.
South Africa plans to introduce 9 600 Megawatts of nuclear energy onto the grid in the next decade. Government has repeatedly said that the nuclear programme will be implemented at a scale the economy and fiscus can afford. – SAnews.gov.za
