South Africa’s Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, used the platform created by the International Energy Agency (IEA) Clean Energy Transitions Summit on July 9 to stress that South Africa’s shift from a high-carbon to a low-carbon path needed to be both systematic and just. Speaking during the virtual event, which was opened by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, attended by energy ministers from 40 countries and viewed by thousands online, Mantashe insisted that South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan 2019 (IRP 2019) would guide the diversification of the country’s electricity mix, which is currently dominated by coal.
