MY HOPES FOR CLEAN ENERGY IN 2021
HOW DOES one approach 2021? With fear and predictions? Or seeking hope? I finally settled on the latter. Like millions who want a more sustainable earth, I am hopeful that ongoing activism worldwide can slowly chip away at the chains of power and greed.
As Pablo Salon, Bolivian activist and ex-diplomat, put it, “2020 wasn’t the worst year, but one of the beginnings of the systemic crisis. Hope is not in the year that begins but, in our ability, to change the ‘normality’ that brought us here. The year 2020 brought to the fore with clarity the reality that system change is needed.”
Like Salon, my hope lies in our ability to subvert the old normal, and start creating a new normal.
In the soon to be released annual groundWork Report 2020, we uncover that state expenditure cuts in the crisis impacted those who most need state support. The national electrification programme aimed to increase access for energy poor households was trimmed and, more alarmingly, Treasury warned budgets wouldn’t necessarily be restored in subsequent budgets.
But, from watching the global reality and our own local experience, we realise we are in this crisis for the long haul. There is no silver bullet – vaccine – that is going to save us; we need to change the way we live on this planet. It is our only home, I am hopeful that we can steady this shaky reality, reset it and create a better world for all.
Justice can be obtained; moves are slow, but there are signs of hope. In a significant development, the Escazú Agreement among Latin American and Caribbean countries, a regional treaty for protection of the environment and environmental defenders, came into effect in November 2020.
The intimidation of activists and their lawyers must stop, as in the case of Australian mining company Mineral Resources Commodities who are accusing Centre for Environmental Rights staff of alleged defamatory statements in relation to its Tormin operations on the West Coast, and its proposed Xolobeni operations in the Wild Coast. We do not fear – “Asina Loyiko” – corporate bullying.
Remember, both “Bazooka” Radebe and MaFikile Ntshangase were killed on our doorstep. The State is yet to act meaningfully on their cases, and thus their murderers are still at large.
The absurdity of seeking more fossil fuel to burn must be stopped. The Italian oil giant, ENI’s corporate spin last year promised “a strong focus on incorporating renewable energy … and decarbonisation”. But, as is the case with Sasol, this commitment is not practised on the ground, but supported by Environment Minister Barbara Creecy who dismissed an appeal by 47 appellants to stop them drilling for oil and gas off KwaZulu-Natal’s coast.
Fracking must be recognised for what it is – a failed false hope for future energy. Annually more local governments and national governments are banning or putting in place measures to ensure fracking does not take place. Yet in Africa, our governments continue to succumb to corporate spin by facilitating the push by northern based corporates to seek profits in the global South. Africa is termed the final frontier for oil and gas and the Okavango area an “onshore sweet spot”. In South Africa, every step towards fracking is contested by communities and activities – a sign of encouragement.
Our reliance on mining for a stable society and economy must be abandoned once and for all. The community and legal challenges against coal mining in the Mabola and Somkhele areas continue. These struggles of today will force the government to recognise that years of mining has made South Africans poorer – ask the many families destitute in rural areas.
Eskom can ditch coal. Today, Eskom even has a Just Energy Transition vision. We hope that in 2021 is coal will be ditched and Eskom becomes truly answerable to the public.
A just transition starts by building a new energy system away from reliance on fossil fuels; rehabilitating mining-damaged areas; creating a healthy food system and rebuilding settlements that deliver meaningful services and stand the impact of climate change – floods and very hot weather. COMMENT