Six months ago the world met in Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties on climate change. The conference was held whilst a weary and battered international community started to slowly emerge from the global COVID-19 crisis. Many important commitments were made at the congress and none more important for South Africa than the 8.5 billion-dollar pledge by the US, UK, French and German governments to help South

Africa to transition away from coal based power, towards cleaner forms of energy. Six months since this pledge was made, and we are facing a new global crisis following on from the viscous and unprovoked Russian attacks on Ukraine. This unjust assault on a sovereign nation has directly impacted the price of energy across the world and has accelerated a global scramble for additional renewable energy resources. Luckily for us as South Africa we have had
six months to process the 8.5 billion dollar offer and should be way ahead of the pack. Or so one would assume. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Our portfolio committee recently heard that six months later, the ANC government is quote “still analyzing the details” of the pledge and is waiting on guidance from cabinet as to whether or not to even accept the assistance.

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