Chairperson Portfolio Committee - Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism; and Chairperson Portfolio Committee - Budget Committee): Chairperson, last year this time I was a staff member in this Parliament and thank you for welcoming us and for inviting us to this debate today. Fellow South Africans, it's a bit metaphorical that the lights went off a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, unlike Parliament that has generators not every household can afford energy security.

Climate change is the single biggest threat to the global economy. The latest 2018 International Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report indicates that the global net human net caused emissions of Carbon Dioxide, CO2, need to fall by approximately 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching net zero around 2050. As part of this, renewable would need to supply 70-85% of electricity by 2050 to avoid the

worst impact of climate change. Hon Chairperson, I would like to suggest that if the EFF does have a plan in terms of creating a million jobs in the energy sector they should bring the plan to the NCOP so that provinces can interrogate such a plan.

The Western Cape recently released the feasibility study for the Western Cape integrated liquefied natural gas importation and gas- to-power project. We should be applauded. This study shows that Saldanha Bay port is the most suitable port currently for the importation of the liquefied natural gas, LNG, given that it was originally built to accommodate gas and thus would be less expensive to convert the Eskom's Ankerlig Power Station compared to other coal-fired stations.

It is thus imperative that Transnet moves forward with the upgrading of the Saldanha Bay port as well as the Eskom board approving the full conversion of its Ankerlig Power Station which would generate extra 700MW. Alone Ankerlig Power Station could save a total of US$16,4 billion over the 2024- 2050 forecast period. And in the Western Cape that would amount to 13% or 13 000 permanent jobs.

Further, by converting Ankerlig Power Station to LNG, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 907 000 tonnes per year and save

482 million gallons of water per annum in the Western Cape through the forecast period.

The average carbon emissions from coal is about 90kg/GJ, and for LNG emits about 50kg/GJ. To put this into context, if you burn one million wooden matches completely at one time it will releases one gigajoule of energy. By converting the facility, Ankerlig would not only improve its fuel efficiency - because as most people know that LNG burns less in terms of heat than normal coal and diesel. It would also reduce the carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, coal Ankerlig produces about 180% more CO2 emissions than LNG, and diesel produces 138% more CO2 emissions than natural gas. This means, in the context of Ankerlig Power Station alone, it would reduce the power stations carbon emissions by approximately 50%.

The average avoided social cost according to the World Bank figures would mean that the social cost would be avoided from 2040-2050 between US$245 million and US$438 million. Thus, environmental considerations within the South African energy plan are key to achieve our goal of reducing our carbon emissions.

The Western Cape government, in its constitutional responsibility around police development, has approved the Western Cape climate

change response strategy and implementation framework in 2014, which was preceded by the previous report in 2005. We are currently undergoing a review of our... [Interjections.]