Transitioning SA's Petrochemical Value Chain

Although South Africa still has extensive coal resources under the ground, coal is a non-renewable resource meaning that its availability is ultimately finite. An implication is that the cost of these energy sources could increase over longer time horizons, as harder-to-mine and lower quality reserves are accessed. The same holds for gas: while there are extensive resources across Africa, resources could ultimately be depleted if usage continues unabated.

Renewable energy technologies, batteries and new energy vehicles  require an array of non-renewable resources in production. These include a number of metals, supply of many of which are likely to be constrained on the path to achieving Paris-aligned renewable energy targets. While many of these could be recovered through recycling at technology end-of-life, reverse logistics (moving products from customer back to manufacturer) could be challenging in parts of the world. However, renewables and energy storage systems are less mature technologies, with the possibility of technological breakthroughs, including input substitution, still to come.