MechTech June 2016 Final

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Mechanical Technology — June 2016 25
⎪ Sustainable energy and energy management ⎪
ers for projects implemented in specific
areas if data for underdeveloped zones
is provided and administrative steps fol-
lowed. The criteria for underdeveloped
zone applications can change over time,
but it is linked to the income per person
per month, based on data not older than
three years.
Taking the 2011 South Africa food
poverty line of R321, the number of
qualifying wards is 956. This includes
45 local municipalities, which comply
with the criteria in full. These 956 wards
are spread across 117 different local
municipalities. With the US$2 World
Bank Purchasing Power Parity of R286,
the number of qualifying wards is 911,
including 37 local municipalities.
In the respective long-term Integrated
Development Plans prepared and updat-
ed annually, the 37 local municipalities
have linked climate change to disaster
management and ecosystem preserva-
tion. Carbon finance can increase resil-
ience in these areas and unlock invest-
ment for service delivery improvement.
Carbon offset projects are well suited
for municipal Integrated Development
Plans as they are longer-term initiatives
with continuous benefits in local poverty
alleviation.
Conclusion and way forward
It is widely recognised that an effective
response to climate change requires
an increased level of mitigation action.
South Africa is in the process of imple-
menting an innovative carbon tax and
offset scheme in 2017.
Offset projects provide valuable
GHG mitigation and support low carbon
economic development opportunities
in South Africa while offering financial
benefit to tax payers. Investment in
these carbon-offset projects should be
fast tracked enabling implementation in
2016, in order to be ready for trading
against carbon tax in 2017.
The main challenges with carbon
offset project development are that it is
very time consuming and that significant
upfront costs and effort are typically
involved. It is only with data gathering,
analysis, projections and verification that
these baselines can be set.
The fast track options can assist low
carbon development through:
• Utilising recent developments in the
three programmes identified in the
South African offset scheme to reduce
barriers to project registration through
automatic additionality, positive lists
and standardised baselines.
• Streamlining the administrative pro-
cess of project registration based on
these interventions.
Project implementers in South Africa can
get access to these fast track options if
the Designated National Authority takes
certain actions, including:
• Making data on technology penetra-
tion rates proving automatic addition-
ality available to project developers.
• Updating the current standardised
baseline for grid electricity, which is
expiring in May 2016.
Low carbon development in underde-
veloped regions in South Africa will not
only assist in reducing extreme poverty
in these regions, but also help to reduce
migration of vulnerable people from these
areas. This, in turn, will assist to alleviate
inequality in South Africa. Obtaining the
data supporting the identification of the
underdeveloped zones could be funded
through the adaptation part of the Global
Environmental Fund. q