The country’s minister for performance monitoring and evaluation, Collins Chabane said the country had voluntarily committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 34% in 2020, and by 45% in 2025, on condition that the requisite technological and financial support was provided.
CCS involves capturing CO2 from a point source, such as a power station or coal-to-fuel plant, transporting it (usually by pipeline) and pumping it down a borehole into porous rock formations deep underground, where it is contained and stored.
The country recently released a geological storage atlas that identified potential CCS areas in South Africa. The next step in the CCS roadmap process is expected to be a test injection of CO2 into a suitable geologic formation, to determine whether such storage can be safely undertaken in South Africa.