South African Delegation attends the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue

On 19-21 March 2024, a high-level South African government delegation attended the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD).  The BETD is one of the leading international forums for key stakeholders of the energy sector. On the sideline of the event, the delegation participated in a series of bilateral meetings and side events engaging in talks on critical raw materials, hydrogen, green economic policy, and carbon sourcing. 

The week commenced with the second meeting of the Green Hydrogen Taskforce, co-chaired by Masopha Moshoeshoe from the South African Presidency and Jürgen Friedrich from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The delegation together with representatives from Morocco, Uruguay and Germany participated in the PtX Hub’s Official BETD 2024 Side Event titled "Carbon Sourcing for Power-to-X: How can we meet the demand for sustainable value chains?". Prof. William Stafford, Principal Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) spoke on South Africa’s position as an industrializing country that is looking to improve their attempts towards adopting renewable energy.   

During the BETD, the German Federal Foreign Office facilitated a dialogue on global energy transition. During a panel discussion on “How to make industry policy green and sustainable” Joanne Bate, COO at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) presented South Africa’s priority areas in the Just Energy Transition which are creating sustainable livelihoods with emphasis on workforce skills and local manufacturing.  

To close off the week, the South African Embassy in Germany hosted a South African-German Business Roundtable to discuss challenges related to green hydrogen and Power-to-X industries.