By IANS,
Cape Town : South Africa has said it would find ways to reduce its emissions level while addressing growing energy needs, BuaNews agency reported Wednesday.
While South Africa is dependent on coal to produce energy, the government is prepared to introduce employ new technologies to mitigate its environmental effects, energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica said Tuesday.
Sonjica was addressing the first Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum meeting in Cape Town.
“A major by-product of coal usage is carbon dioxide emissions. South Africa currently emits approximately 400 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide,” the minister said.
“The total South African emission is about one percent of the world’s emissions,” Sonjica said, adding that despite this being a small fraction of the total world emissions, the country was “committed to addressing the challenge”.
Besides coal, the country is looking at other sources of energy, including hydro-electricity, gas turbine and nuclear power, she said.
Sonjica said the key challenge for governments was to ensure the availability of energy with improved efficiency and at sustainable price.