“South Africa, a developing country with an energy economy dominated by coal, has potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS). Given its strong commitment to sustainable development, the country may want tounderstand the implications of this climate change mitigation option for local development—in its economic, social, and environmental dimensions. South Africa is expected to remain dependent on coal for decades to come (DME, 2003a), but will increasingly be challenged to contribute to the global effort of climate change mitigation, or reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). In this context, CCS might be attractive to South Africa’s minerals and energy sector, with its
high reliance on coal and the existence of pure carbon dioxide (CO2) streams in the coal-to-liquid fuel process. Its “minerals-energy complex” (Fine & Rustomjee, 1996)
has already become involved in exploring CCS2 through participation in the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) processes. This report seeks to
understand the broader implications of CCS for sustainable development, and how it compares to alternatives: CCS might make sense as pure climate policy, but how does CCS line up alongside other mitigation options with respect to development? The report considers the political, technological, and institutional prerequisites for making CCS work in a
developing country, and the discussion of its potential to become an important component of a coherent climate strategy.”
