SA’s step to transition away from coal

South Africa produced its inaugural official gauge of the carbon intensity of its electricity production, confirming its status as one of the world’s top producers per capita of greenhouse gases.

The department of forestry, fisheries and environment this month said the country’s domestic generation grid emission factor (DGGEF) – a measure of the carbon intensity of electricity produced in the country – is 1 013 tons of carbon dioxide or its equivalent per megawatt hour.

The department used 2021 data.

While there’s no direct comparison, as different methodologies are used to determine the factor, Ember, a climate think tank, said SA has the most carbon-intensive energy system of any of the countries in the Group of 20 nations followed by Saudi Arabia and India.

The introduction of the measure is a further step by SA, which relies on coal for more than 80% of its power, to transition its grid away from fossil fuels.

While the process has been beset by political infighting, it has committed to ambitious emission reduction targets and has drawn up a plan to lessen its dependence on coal. “Government can use these factors to monitor and analyse electricity emission trends, guide climate change mitigation modelling and inform climate change mitigation policy response,” the department said.

Ember’s own measure of the SA grid emission factor is lower but the country “might be using more tailored methodology based on actual plant emissions”, it said.

The gauge can be used by operators of carbon credit projects, which aim to either remove or prevent climate-warming carbon dioxide or its equivalent from entering the atmosphere, to determine the impact of their programmes.

In addition to the DGGEF, which was based on the 216.2 million tons of emissions SA’s power plants produced, the department said the national generation grid emission factor, which includes imported hydro power, was 985kg of carbon dioxide or its equivalent emitted per megawatt hour.