Green hydrogen could transform SA economy, says Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa believes green hydrogen could add 3.6% to the country's GDP by 2050 and lead to the creation of some 370,000 jobs.
Ramaphosa addressed the second Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town on Monday.
Experts see green hydrogen as a critical component in the global transition towards low-carbon and climate-resilient societies.
"The hydrogen economy will provide employment and support to vulnerable workers, communities, and small businesses and contribute to the growth of our medium and big businesses,” Ramaphosa said.
"Being a South Africa where jobs are scarce and unemployment significantly high, this will be a major boost to lowering our unemployment levels.”
Ramaphosa said in addition to the economic benefits, green hydrogen has the potential to remove 10 to 15% of the country’s domestic emissions and contribute to long-term energy security.
"Funding green hydrogen projects will require innovative, creative and new financing structures from multiple stakeholders. If there ever was a time for innovation of packaging, investments, and instruments to enable us to solve the challenge of lack of capital. In this case, capital is not a problem. The problem is being able to package instruments through which investors can invest and to package products properly.”
South Africa recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands as an off-taker for green hydrogen derivative products.
"It is encouraging to note that a memorandum of cooperation will be signed at this conference by three multinationals in the green hydrogen mobility space, namely Sasol, Anglo-American and BMW,” Ramaphosa said.
BMW, Anglo-American Platinum, and Sasol have announced that they will work together to bring a green hydrogen-powered electric car to South Africa.
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