A coal train on Transnet’s dedicated coal line to Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)
By Isobel Frye
Quite unexpectedly, coal is currently king as the war in the Ukraine leaves Europe scrambling to meet its energy needs after aggressor Russia threatened to disrupt its historic gas supply. With winter looming, the same northern global leaders who presided over the fossil fuel free commitments of just nine months ago are having to juggle a renegotiation of their exit from coal while remaining committed, at this stage, to the 2030 and 2060 targets. This leaves coal producers in quite the pound seat. But what options does this give South Africa, a country committed to a just transition, and can we bank the current windfall to finance the structural economic redistributive reforms needed to guarantee a sustainable future?
