Новости за 17.04.2024

The Professional Provident Society (PPS), the financial services group focused solely on providing customised financial services solutions for graduate professionals in South Africa and Namibia, says in a statement that it returned “exceptional value” to its members last year, as operating performance improved. The group announced total profits that were added to its members’ notional PPS Profit-Share Accounts in South Africa and Namibia of R4.54-billion.

A new report by the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has shown that carbon capture use and storage (CCUS) is unlikely to play a major role in steel decarbonisation despite support for the technology at the 2023 COP28 climate conference. Direct reduced iron- (DRI-) based steelmaking, which can run on green hydrogen, is gaining momentum in the steel sector, the institute points out.

Standard Bank head of Southern Africa’s oil and gas coverage Paul Eardley-Taylor has suggested that South Africa needs 13 GW of gas-to-power (GtP) capacity, rather than the 7.2 GW to 8.6 GW outlined in the draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023. Speaking at mine ventilation solutions developer Howden’s Technology Day, hosted at Mintek, in Johannesburg, on April 17, he explained that this calculation was made by considering the need to overcome Stage 6 or even Stage 7 loadshedding, when Stage 6 was being regularly achieved... Читать дальше...

A report published by global consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG) finds that, with thoughtful and gradual changes to how wheat is grown, processed and consumed, the food system can be transformed to be more nutritional. With grains, in particular, including wheat, corn and rice, most nutrients are stripped during refining and contributes to various diet-related diseases. The way grains are currently produced also have a negative impact on the environment, the consultancy states.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has recently joined a new global research programme focused on improving understanding of the future state of the oceans under various climate change scenarios. Led by CSIR principal researcher Dr Tommy Ryan-Keogh, the programme, titled BioGeoSCAPES, includes participation by over 30 countries.

Amid an increasing need to combat plastic pollution, the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) highlights the need for concerted efforts to combat plastic pollution in South Africa. IWMSA president Mpendulo Ginindza notes that the plastic economy in South Africa is based on a linear model of “take-make-waste”, leading to significant environmental consequences.

Johannesburg Water has showcased some of the various reservoirs and systems that supply the City of Johannesburg with water. The water utility also outlined the challenges in operating the systems that feed the economic hub with the critical resource. Natasha Odendaal has the story.

The National Research Foundation (NRF) will participate in the fourth AERAP Africa-Europe Science Collaboration Forum, which will be hosted by the South African Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, next week. AERAP is an acronym for Africa-Europe Science Collaboration and Innovation Platform and the NRF is South Africa’s agency for the support and promotion of research, by means of funding, the provision of research facilities and human resource development. “As South Africa’s premier science council, ...

Volkswagen Group Africa (VWA) last week suffered four power outages at its Kariega plant, says VWA MD and chairperson Martina Biene. This happened while there was no loadshedding scheduled for the Eastern Cape.

Farmers in Mozambique and Zambia are being impacted by one of the worst droughts in decades, United Nations (UN) assistant secretary-general Reena Ghelani has said as she met with stakeholders to organise food and cash assistance in countries affected by the drastic El Niño-induced weather. She explained the Southern Africa region was experiencing extreme food insecurity and water shortages amid a growing climate crisis fuelled by the El Niño phenomenon.

The global wind industry installed a record 117 GW of new capacity in 2023, making it the best year ever for new wind energy, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) states in its ‘Global Wind Report 2024’. Despite a turbulent political and macroeconomic environment, the report finds that the wind industry is entering a new era of accelerated growth driven by increased political ambition, manifested in the historic COP28 adoption of a target to triple renewable energy by 2030.

Osman Arbee will be retiring as CEO of automotive group Motus, with effect from October 31, and will be succeeded by the group’s CFO Ockert Janse van Rensburg, with effect from November 1. Having joined Imperial Holdings in September 2004, Arbee’s career with the group has spanned 20 years. He was appointed as CEO of Motus in March 2017, prior to the company's unbundling from Imperial and its listing on the JSE in November 2018.

PetroSA expects the first flows of gas into the country from a deal with Mozambique's national energy company ENH later this year, officials said, amid efforts to shore up supplies ahead of a potentially crippling shortage. Handed a gas trading licence by regulators in March, state-owned oil and gas company PetroSA has moved quickly to secure a deal for an initial 2 petajoules of gas a year (PJ/a), with scope to rise to 200 petajoules eventually.

American aerospace giant Boeing has announced that it is to buy 35.6-million litres of blended sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), for use by its US commercial operations this year. This is its biggest annual SAF purchase to date, and is more than 60% greater than the amount it bought last year. This will help reduce the company’s carbon emissions. “As our focus remains on safety and quality, sustainability continues to be a priority,” assured Boeing VP Environmental Sustainability Ryan Faucett. “[SAF] is essential to decarbonise aviation. Читать дальше...

South Africa's headline consumer inflation fell to 5.3% year on year in March from 5.6% in February, statistics agency data showed on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that inflation would slow to 5.4% in annual terms. The South African Reserve Bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at 8.25% last month, saying its policy stance needed to remain restrictive to tackle higher inflation expectations. It expects headline inflation to reach the midpoint of its target range of 4.5% only near the end of 2025. Читать дальше...

Telecommunications giant MTN Group and information and communication technology group Huawei have jointly launched Technology Innovation Lab to accelerate digital transformation and sustainable development across Africa. The establishment of the lab at MTN’s headquarters in Roodepoort, marking a significant advancement in the parties’ ongoing collaboration across diverse digital fields, followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in February.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has initiated consultations on Eskom’s latest Regulatory Clearing Account (RCA) application for the 2022/23 financial year, where Eskom is requesting R9-million, its lowest RCA application since the utility began making yearly submissions under the claw-back mechanism. Given that the amount is less than 2% of Eskom’s allowable revenue for the year, Nersa is not required to undertake public hearings. Nevertheless, a consultation document has been published... Читать дальше...

Namibia will invest a big chunk of any revenue it gets from a potentially massive oil discovery into a sovereign wealth fund, and expects to learn if the find is commercially viable later this year. “We understand that the quantities are large but we still have to test the commercial viability of this oil,” Finance Minister Ipumbu Shiimi told Bloomberg in an interview Tuesday in Washington. “We expect them to reach a final investment decision probably by the end of this year.”

Two former BNP Paribas bankers have raised almost $100-million for a new fund which aims to unlock billions of dollars of funding for climate-aligned infrastructure projects in Africa. Acre Impact Capital, a private-debt impact investment manager, is looking to address the estimated $100-billion annual infrastructure financing gap on the continent by providing a portion of the unsecured funding for export finance projects.