President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that South Africa’s Implementation Plan of the Just Energy Transition (JET) Investment Plan shared with some of its Partners who have committed up to 8.5 billion US Dollars towards nation’s efforts in decarbonising the economy and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Cyril Ramaphosa who made the this known at the Climate Conference in Dubai over the weekend said he presentated the plan to the Secretary-General of United Nations and called for more countries to participate in efforts to end the effects of climate change in developing economy countries.
“We are calling for more countries to participate, as our Just Energy Transition Plan requires much more funding, so that we can enable a more effective and positively impactful transition, particularly with respect to communities that are going to be affected as we transit from fossil fuel sources of energy to renewables.
“As the Summit continues in the next two weeks we want to see sharper focus coming from developed economies with respect to living up to their Paris commitments.
“We still expect the 100 billion dollars that was promised to be made available to support countries that are least responsible for climate damage manage the effects of climate change”, said the President.
Ramaphosa who concluded his official visit to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), over the weekend, satisfied with the level of total engagements at COP28 event, including the resulting outcome of setting up a loss and damage fund.
He asserted the role of multilateralism and solidarity as central to global climate action and cautioned against unilateral, coercive and trade-distorting approaches, such as carbon adjustment measures that are going to be severely detrimental to developing economies.
According to the Presidency’s statement which disclosed that the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy will lead the country’s participation for the remainder of the Conference until 12 December 2023.
South Africa’s participation at the Conference is in the context of its national determination as set out in the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, to significantly reduce emission in line with the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015.
The Conference underway, commenced on 30 November and will end on 12 December 2023, brings together world leaders to discuss progress and ambition across all pillars of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as adopted in the Paris Agreement in 2015.