Morgan Stanley estimates that it will take $50-trillion to stop global warming by 2050, which is a very large sum of money. But going ‘green’ has great potential to boost the economies and people of the world.
Sun, wind, water, land and sea can, according to the calculations of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ‘pull up the people and cool down the planet’.
South Africa is exceptionally lucky to be blessed with superior sun, prime wind, open space, key metals and marine resources that ensure a good return on climate-positive investment. The technologies that need to be deployed are largely proven and the required infrastructure is, in some respects, already in place.
But every day that passes without climate-positive action sets the country further down the road to lower foreign exchange intake, greater economic deterioration, worsening unemployment and boundless environmental degradation.
Overall, the ‘convenient truth’ is that South Africa is in a strong position to decarbonise its energy mix cost effectively, without undermining security of supply. So, let’s do it without further delay.