A transitional Tuesday
Tuesday was a good day for nature. After a fair share of arm wrestling, the Council of the EU succeeded in landing a so-called general approach on its Nature Restoration Law, aiming to put in place recovery measures that will cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
Despite being a bone of contention, the nature restoration law is a key piece of the European Green Deal making up the Union’s bid to halt biodiversity loss and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. Especially given that more than 80% of the EU’s habitat is in poor or bad condition. As such, the agreement sets specific legally-binding targets and obligations for nature restoration to secure healthy levels of biodiversity to fight climate change and achieve international commitments in line with the Kunming-Montreal agreement. The general approach will serve as the Council’s mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the final shape of the legislation.
While far from the EU minister’s meeting in Luxembourg, Tuesday was an equally good day for global decarbonisation efforts as South Africa penned a pact for a $1 billion green hydrogen fund with Denmark and the Netherlands. The new fund, dubbed SA-H2, is to be raised directly in South Africa or indirectly via other channels. SA-H2 underlines the European nations’ eagerness to help South Africa, the 14th biggest emitter of carbon dioxide worldwide, transition towards a greener economy.
As an imperative to fulfill the country’s green hydrogen potential, Boston Consultancy Group finds that South Africa would need to set up 6-7 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity per year for the next two decades to support the budding industry. Considering that the country has managed 6 GW from 2011 to date, the strengthened tie-up seeks to spur the necessary energy shift from coal to renewables. In this endeavour, South Africa may be drawing on its energy partnerships with Denmark since 2013 to deploy effective policies and build out the needed renewable energy capacity.
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