South Africa, the second-largest economy in Africa, has a large energy sector and ranks 82 out of 120 countries on the ETI 2023. The country has improved its overall ETI score by 6% since 2014. South Africa’s system performance scores have improved, supported by better performance in energy access, electricity and clean cooking fuels. While scores in the sustainable dimension are accelerating due to the reduced energy intensity, significant challenges remain. The energy transition in South Africa has historically been an uphill battle, even though the share of renewable energy has increased over the past 10 years. The country still derives about 70% of its electricity from coal, the carbon intensity of the energy mix remains high, and clean energy sources only constitute around 13% of the total energy mix.¹¹⁸

Recent announcements for net-zero emissions by 2050 constitute steps in the right direction and indicate the increase in political commitment and strengthening regulatory environment. Several policy developments and measures have been put in place to help the country accelerate its clean energy transition. As reported by Global Compliance News: “At COP 27 in November 2022, South Africa launched its new Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) and announced a five-year investment plan for the $8.5 billion financing package, which was announced as part of the country’s Just Energy Transition Partnership with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union at COP26. The JET IP is aligned with the Cabinet-approved National Just Transition Framework and outlines the investments required to achieve the country’s decarbonization commitments, while promoting sustainable development, and ensuring a just transition for affected workers and communities. … The JET IP covers electricity, new energy vehicles (NEVs) and green hydrogen, and identifies $98 billion in financial requirements over the next five years, to come from both the public and private sectors.”¹¹⁹

South Africa’s National Development Plan, draft Integrated Energy Plan and Renewable Energy White Paper all outline the country’s policy foundation for energy transition, “an increased focus on a diversified energy mix that includes renewable energy, distributed generation and battery storage”¹²⁰ and a move away from carbon-fuelled energy. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, introduced in 2011, was a competitive tender process designed to facilitate private-sector investment into grid-connected renewable energy generation. The programme’s sixth round got under way in 2022, in line with the 2019 Integrated Resources Plan, aiming to procure 2.6GW of solar and wind power.¹²¹ To encourage the self-generation of renewable energy, the government scrapped the 100 MW licence-exemption threshold for distributed generators and proposed a feed-in tariff for self-generating households and businesses.¹²² Moreover, the South Africa Hydrogen Society Roadmap, published in February 2022 and focusing on national ambitions, sector prioritization, the overarching policy framework and the macroeconomic effect of the hydrogen economy throughout South Africa, is an important milestone for the country as it navigates its energy transition.¹²³

Debt and mismanagement have rendered Eskom, a public electricity utility, vulnerable and caused capacity gaps resulting in load-shedding, frequent electricity blackouts and a lack of affordable and secure power. In the immediate term, the government has put amendments in place to address the electricity supply deficit. South Africa’s energy transition nevertheless faces challenges in the medium to long term, including key players influencing policy formulation and having an incentive to support coal, as well as economic and social fallout from the loss of jobs and livelihoods in the coal industry. Room exists to speed up actions to decarbonize the energy mix through energy efficiency measures, the development of renewables, electrification, and the use of carbon capture technologies. Still, given the importance of extractive industries in South Africa, additional opportunities exist to ensure an equitable transition by creating a high-level centralized body to manage the process, engaging all stakeholders early and often, promoting transparency and accessibility in the policy process and forming a supportive legislative framework.