We cannot afford incremental action on climate change

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Despite encouraging rhetoric from our leaders, South Africa is still heading in the wrong direction. We are one of the world’s most carbon-intensive economies and the biggest polluter in Africa.

Studies tell us that the recovery from Covid-19 must be sustainable and led by renewable energy. Otherwise, we will have blown our last opportunity to keep warming from passing the vital threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Under Ramaphosa, the government has now promised distant action that we will get to net zero emissions by 2050. In the present, however, we are taking actions that will make the climate crisis worse and almost ensure we are not hitting that target even in the long run. When you burn fossil gas, it releases carbon dioxide, and when you produce gas, it typically leaks methane – one of the most powerful greenhouse gases. Those leaks can sometimes make fossil gas worse than coal for the climate. The result is that methane levels are at record levels globally.

Multiple economic models have made it clear that a renewable energy future is our most affordable, reliable and job-creating energy future. If we ensure a just transition to a more socially owned renewable energy future, we can bring major benefits to the people of South Africa. On Friday, in a dozen actions across South Africa, people are standing with Melithafa and other young people demanding a move away from incremental action. We are calling instead for transformative action — what is being called a radical Green New Deal.

 

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A complete shithole country. Giving South Africa aid and investing it it is throwing money down a drain.

Do you think that during a global pandemic with the economy on its arse, with hunger a problem for millions do, now is the time to tackle carbon emissions? ClearlyNot

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