French giant has completed a round of public meetings
TotalEnergies is about to submit its final application to drill up to five wells to search for oil or gas along the coast betweenCape Town andCape Agulhas .- The final round of public participation meetings was completed this month.
- Some environmental groups are opposing the project. They say oil and gas should not be part of
South Africa's transition from coal. - But
TotalEnergies says gas will drastically reduce carbon emissions.
French energy giant
The scoping and environmental impact process started in May this year. If the project is approved, the drill area will span about 10,000 square kilometres, with the closest point 60km from the coast and the furthest 170 kilometres.
This application is one in a rush of offshore oil and gas applications along
A public participation process concluded last week after meetings in coastal communities, including
The public will be able to submit public comments until
The Urgewald report points out that in 2021, the
Yet, the report points out, "in 48 out of 55 African nations, oil, gas and coal companies are either exploring or developing new fossil reserves, building new fossil infrastructure such as pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals or developing new gas- and coal-fired power plants".
"These enormous fossil expansion plans are completely incompatible with the
But in a summary of its impact assessment report, SRL says the need to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050 "is balanced with the need to grow the economy and create jobs".
The government "currently promotes the use of natural gas as part of the energy mix up to 2030 to serve as a transition to a carbon-neutral goal and provide the flexibility required to complement renewable energy sources," says SRL.
Oil and gas exploration forms part of the South African government's priorities as part of the Operation Phakisa's Oceans Economy programme in order to reduce "dependence on expensive oil and gas imports". But some environmental organisations and members of the public are saying oil and gas should not be in
Natural gas is neither "sustainable" nor "clean", says
Also, says Solomon, renewables are a faster way to meet the country's energy needs.
Solomon said that the ESIA also didn't consider the fishing communities and the impact the exploration project would have on their heritage. "We've got a large informal economy that is totally reliant on a healthy ocean, from tourism to fisheries," she said. "The ocean is sacred to a lot of cultures in
Not many fishers attended the public meeting held in
"We make our livelihoods out of the sea. ... Oil and gas is not going to benefit our community," he said.
Greenpeace
Vlavianos says it is "nonsensical" to pursue oil and gas in the context of the "just transition". "It will achieve nothing but locking us into a high emissions trajectory, with little real economic benefits to people on the ground. Often, the jobs and economic upliftment promised by these projects do not materialise."
The summary of the environmental assessment does show that the exploration project overlaps with areas where four species are fished, but suggests that with communication and coordination with fishers, its impact can be mitigated. The report notes that many people are "directly reliant on the ocean and coast for their livelihood, and social and spiritual wellbeing".
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She said the use of gas instead of coal would halve carbon emissions and "drastically reduce air pollution".
Asked how much of the output from the project would be used in the domestic market and how much would be exported, she did not reply by the time of publication.
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