Working visit to South Africa with focus on energy and climate policy
Bern, 05.02.2015 - Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard’s working visit to South Africa from 2 to 5 February focused mainly on energy and climate issues. To that end she met the environment minister, Edna Molewa in Johannesburg. Further meetings were held in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town with representatives from the authorities, and the academic and business communities. The head of DETEC also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in support of a project to promote energy-saving street lighting.
At the beginning of her trip to South Africa, Federal Councillor Leuthard met with members of SwissCham. This was followed by talks in Port Elizabeth with the mayor, Benson Fihla, and with representatives from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University who conduct research in the field of renewable energies and water supply. The head of DETEC then signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the mayor in which Switzerland declares itself willing to support a project to promote energy-efficient street lighting. South Africa is interested in moving ahead with this project as street lighting accounts for a large part of municipal energy consumption. At the same the project would contribute to increasing public safety in the townships, for example.
In Cape Town, talks were held with representatives from the Green Building Council as well as with representatives from the business community and the authorities. Here too the emphasis was on the potential for investment in the field of renewable energies and energy-saving technologies. These are are becoming increasingly important in South Africa due to the high share of coal-powered energy production and the increasing demand for energy.
At the end of the working visit Federal Councillor Leuthard met with environment minister Edna Molewa. The talks focussed on the desired post-2020 climate agreement intended to reduce greenhouse gases, which should be adopted in Paris in December. Switzerland supports an agreement setting ambitious reduction targets that involves all states without applying different rules.
Switzerland and South Africa foster good relations. South Africa is one Switzerland's priority countries in economic development cooperation and is one of the non-European countries with which Switzerland cooperates closely in science and research. Federal Councillor Leuthard will be accompanied on her trip by a number of business representatives and the director of EAWAG, Janet Hering. The aquatic research institute from the ETH Domain fosters close ties with a number of universities in South Africa and takes part in the Swiss-South African Joint Research Programme.
Address for enquiries
Communication DETEC, +41 58 462 55 11
Publisher
General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC
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