{"id":46130,"date":"2021-09-03T20:03:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T18:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?p=46130"},"modified":"2021-09-03T19:26:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T17:26:59","slug":"bucking-global-shift-to-cleaner-energy-zim-digs-deeper-into-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bucking-global-shift-to-cleaner-energy-zim-digs-deeper-into-coal","title":{"rendered":"Bucking Global Shift To Cleaner Energy, Zim\u00a0Digs Deeper Into Coal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Zimbabwe<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Reuters<\/b> – IN CONTRAST to the growing number of countries seeking to wean themselves off coal, Zimbabwe is opening new coal mines that authorities say will allow the country to meet its energy needs and, eventually, become an exporter of the polluting fuel.<\/p>\n

The government is looking to turn the northwest district of Hwange into a coal hub, with private investors \u2013 mostly based in China \u2013 investing up to $1 billion to build coking mines and thermal coal power plants.<\/p>\n

But environmentalists say the move \u2013 part of a bigger plan to grow mining into a $12-billion industry by 2023 \u2013 will increase Zimbabwe\u2019s climate-warming carbon emissions and harm the wildlife in its largest natural reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cZimbabwe can\u2019t be going back to coal as if we were in 1985 or 1977, while the whole world is now divesting from coal,\u201d said Khumbulani Maphosa, a climate change activist and head of the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights.<\/p>\n

Coking coal \u2013 also called metallurgical coal \u2013 is turned into a fuel used for smelting in steel production.<\/p>\n

To get to the coking coal in Hwange, mining companies first have to go through deposits of thermal coal, which is burned to produce energy, explained Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.<\/p>\n

Any company setting up mining operations in the area must also build a power station that runs on thermal coal and feeds electricity into the grid, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect that by 2025, all those mining companies will be pumping so much electricity into the grid, Zimbabwe will have a surplus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ncube estimated that the new mining operations in Hwange \u2013 nine of which have started or completed construction since 2018 \u2013 will add a surplus of about 5,000 megawatts (MW) to Zimbabwe\u2019s power capacity.<\/p>\n

Maphosa and other green activists, however, warned that the southern African nation is going down an \u201cenvironmentally unfriendly\u201d route that will harm efforts to slow global warming.<\/p>\n

Scientists have linked climate change to the worsening droughts, floods and unusual storms Zimbabwe has been experiencing over the past few decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to see a rise in terms of our carbon footprint and our contribution to \u2026 climate change, because it doesn\u2019t matter whether this coal is burnt in Zimbabwe, in China, in South Africa or wherever,\u201d Maphosa said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

P<\/b><\/p>\n

ower and Jobs<\/p>\n

In a hard-hitting report released earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change pointed the finger squarely at the burning of fossil fuels by humans as one of the main drivers of global warming, warning it is already too late to stop decades of future climate disruptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe alarm bells are deafening,\u201d U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said in a statement. \u201cThis report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the International Energy Agency, coal-fired electricity generation accounts for about 30% of global carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

Yet, despite coal\u2019s reputation as the dirtiest of fuels, Richard Moyo, minister of state for Matabeleland North province, where Hwange is located, said coal mining was essential for the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of development, we really need power,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With about 1,000 MW of power generation capacity, Zimbabwe consistently falls 700 MW short of peak demand, according to the 2019 renewable energy policy, which means it has to import the shortfall from South Africa and Mozambique.<\/p>\n

The new mining operations, which will produce coking coal for domestic use and export, are also expected to unlock about 1,000 much-needed job opportunities in the province, Moyo said.<\/p>\n

P<\/b><\/p>\n

ush for solar<\/p>\n

Government data shows that Zimbabwe\u2019s land holds about 12 billion tonnes of high-grade coal.<\/p>\n

But Fidelis Chima, coordinator for the Greater Whange Residents Trust (GWRT), a nonprofit community group, said there was no need to dig down when Zimbabwe only has to look up for cleaner sources of energy.<\/p>\n

He urged the country to focus on exploiting its \u201cgreat potential\u201d for solar power, tapping into the average 3,000 hours of sunshine it gets per year \u2013 a greener approach that would \u201cposition Zimbabwe as innovative\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the GWRT sued the government to force it to consider investing in clean energy instead of encouraging coal mining. The case is still in court, according to Chima.<\/p>\n

GWRT is mainly concerned about the impact of mining on Zimbabwe\u2019s famous wildlife sanctuaries.<\/p>\n

Chima pointed to special mining concessions that were granted to Afrochine Energy, a subsidiary of Chinese steel giant Tsingshan, to explore for coal near Hwange National Park, home to the endangered Black Rhino and African wild dogs.<\/p>\n

Afrochine spokesperson Oliver Mutasa confirmed the company had been given a license to explore for coal and other minerals in Hwange, but said it would stay out of the national park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of the ecological negative impacts that we are likely to face should mining encroach into such an area,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

In addition, environmentalists see the mining push as a step backwards in Zimbabwe\u2019s efforts to adopt more renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe has pledged to cut its energy-related emissions by about a third from projected business-as-usual levels by 2030, mainly by boosting renewable power generation \u2013 excluding hydro-electricity \u2013 to more than 25% of the mix from about 5% now.<\/p>\n

But climate activist Maphosa said Zimbabwe\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels to drive growth and create jobs would make it hard to give up on coal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems the government has adopted an \u2018extractivist\u2019 approach to economic development\u2026 So when (officials) say this will phase out very soon, I don\u2019t think so,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Reuters – IN CONTRAST to the growing number of countries seeking to wean themselves off coal, Zimbabwe is opening new coal mines that authorities say will allow the country to meet its energy needs and, eventually, become an exporter of the polluting fuel. The government is looking to turn the northwest district […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,35,15],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-46130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-twitter","11":"tag-africa-press","12":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","13":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nBucking Global Shift To Cleaner Energy, Zim\u00a0Digs Deeper Into Coal - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reuters - IN CONTRAST to the growing number of countries seeking to wean themselves off coal, Zimbabwe is opening ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bucking-global-shift-to-cleaner-energy-zim-digs-deeper-into-coal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bucking Global Shift To Cleaner Energy, Zim\u00a0Digs Deeper Into Coal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reuters - 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