Wits Business School (WBS) in partnership with the Centre of Excellence in Financial Services (COEFS) recently held a masterclass on the future of coal in South Africa. The masterclass focused on Exploring South Africa's 250-year coal natural endowment by introducing alternative uses for coal, with lower carbon emissions, to address the energy crisis and to develop a new coal industry beyond power generation in support of the green economy.

In his opening remarks, the director of the African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC) at WBS Professor Lwazi Ngubevana, impressed that part of the AELC and WBS’s strategy mirrors the Wits University’s Vision 2023 which focuses on building partnerships with corporates, academic institutions, and government towards finding solutions to some of the most pressing challenges that face society and our climate today.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy claims that coal makes up the majority of South Africa's domestic energy resource base. Coal is the primary fuel that is utilised the most around the world, making up around 36% of the total fuel used to produce power globally. Coal meets about 77 percent of South Africa's basic energy requirements.

The world’s coal deposits position South Africa as the seventh top producer of this form of combustible rock, digging out about 258.5 million tons per annum. Given the vast availability of coal and the worlds drive towards reducing carbon emissions, it is increasingly becoming important for South Africa to find alternative ways of using this resource in an environmentally friendly way.

Speaking at the event, Dr Nandi Malumbazo, who is a senior lecturer at the African Energy Leadership Centre and at the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at Wits University, defined the role of coal in green economy and its contribution towards the supply and demand of critical raw materials. She further outlined other possible options of using coal in the green economy including extracting critical raw materials from coal and its by-product.

“South Africa needs to come up with solutions on upskilling and sustaining the economy generated from coal on the power generation, which is almost 35% that we won't be using coal for power generation”, said Malumbazo. “We need a clear coal research and development strategy so that we can be able to come up with new industries suitable for coal usage”, she added.

Dr Lumkile Mondi, who is a lecturer at Wits School of Economics and Finance, spoke about the political economy of coal towards a new mineral and energy complex. He remarked that in the debate about coal, there are huge regimes that have vested interest. “A significant alliance in South Africa is that between the powerful actors represented by the government, the state-owned electricity utility and large industrial minerals and mining companies making up the Mineral Energy Mix”.

As the world is moving towards a green economy, our debate around coal should not be on energy but on alternative use of this resource as an asset that can unlock opportunities that belie us in the transport, defence, and aerospace sectors.

By Medupi Lamola, Marketing & Communication Manager, Wits Business School