INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - BREAKING NEWS - ADVANCED (C1 – C2)

A Deal to Help
South Africa is
a Breakthrough
for the World

1. dot (v) a) cause (an action or process) to begin

b) to express or represent an idea or a quality

2. audacious (adj.)
c) to delay or stop the progress of something
3. catalyze (v)
d) to cause pain or trouble to somebody/something over a
4. windy talk (n) period of time

e) to be a sign of something; represent

5. impede (v)
f) be scattered over (an area)
6. toll (n)
g) something that encourages a process or activity to develop
7. plagued (v) more quickly

h) full of words that sound impressive but do not mean much

8. embodies (v)
i) the amount of damage or the number of deaths and
9. denotes (v) injuries that are caused in a particular war, disaster, etc.

10. impetus (n) j) willing to take risks or to do something that shocks people

1/4
 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - BREAKING NEWS - ADVANCED (C1 – C2)
A Deal to Help South
Africa Is a Breakthrough
for the World
Helping a continent reduce its reliance on coal.
1 coal-burning power plants that will be among the
South Africa generates 80 percent of its electricity by
burning coal, more than any other industrialized
nation. Some 200,000 people are directly employed by
the coal mines, coal transports and coal-fired power
plants that dot the flatlands east of Johannesburg, but
the prosperity of the rest of the nation also rests on a
foundation of black rock.
Now, the South African government, with the help of
the United States and European nations, is embarking
on an audacious plan to quit coal without undermining
economic growth. If it works, the proposed transition
to solar and wind power could fuel faster growth and
create a template for coal-dependent nations to
confront climate change. This is a significant
opportunity, and it deserves support and attention.
2 stations. It plans to build a solar and wind farm on the
The United States has committed more than $1 billion
as part of an $8.5 billion international aid package to
catalyze South Africa’s shift to renewable energy, and,
after two years of talks about the details, the
government in Pretoria is to deliver a plan in February
for carrying it out.
The proposed aid package is part of a broader shift in
the international response to climate change. Windy
talk about the necessity for wealthy countries to help
3 less wealthy countries is finally turning tangible. In
November, a group of nations, including the United
States, committed $20 billion for a similar partnership
with Indonesia, then made a $15.5 million
commitment to Vietnam in December. Talks are
underway with other nations, including Senegal and
India.
America’s own response to climate change remains
inadequate, and Americans are suffering as a result,
but even if the United States stopped burning fossil
4 fuels tomorrow — magically and completely — it
wouldn’t much impede the march of climate change.
The country needs to help the rest of the world burn
less fossil fuel, too. South Africa is a promising place to
start.
South Africa needs more electricity. The country’s coal-
fired power plants are regularly overwhelmed by
5 demand, forcing the national power company, Eskom,
to impose rolling blackouts. The blackouts were worse
than ever last year, leaving millions of customers in
major cities without power for hours at a time,
disrupting the economy and slowing growth. To
generate more electricity, Eskom is completing two
world’s largest, projects that have been financed in
part by billions of dollars in World Bank loans.
Most leaders in South Africa’s government regard
those plants as the end of an era. Climate change is
taking a growing toll on the country. Like many
countries that are far from the Equator, South Africa is
experiencing drastic changes in temperature, and it
has been plagued by both droughts and flooding.
6
Many of the country’s existing coal-fired power plants
need to be replaced in the coming years, and the rapid
decline in the cost of wind and solar power generation
means that renewable energy can be substituted for
coal at relatively little additional cost. Last year, the
country shut down the first of those older power
site — once again with financing provided by the
World Bank.
The international aid package now under discussion
with the United States and European partners is
intended to accelerate the energy transition. Under
the South African government’s current plans, which
seek to ease the price of electricity during the
transition, the country’s power plants still would
produce 3.9 gigatons of carbon between now and
7 2050. A South African consultancy, Meridian
Economics, estimated in a 2020 report that a faster
transition could prevent roughly half of those
emissions.
The South African government has estimated that it
will require about $98 billion over the next five years
to start a faster transition — and several times more to
finish the work. The $8.5 billion in aid, which embodies
only a small fraction of that total, is intended to help
South Africa raise the rest.
Foreign aid can support investments in infrastructure
that are less attractive to private investors. For
example, South Africa needs to build transmission lines
8 to connect the best sites for generating renewable
2/4
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - BREAKING NEWS - ADVANCED (C1 – C2)

energy with the people who need electricity. A study of

a similar effort in Chile, completed in 2019, found new
transmission lines led to an increase of 51 percent in
solar generation, while sharply reducing prices for
urban households.

The workers who are likely to lose their jobs also will
need help — and easing the impact on their lives and
communities is necessary to maintain political support.

The scale of the aid denotes a significant political

breakthrough. But there is a very real danger that it’s
not enough. Only 4 percent of the aid for South Africa
is in the form of grants. The rest basically amounts to
helping South Africa borrow money from foreign
lenders to whom it already is heavily indebted. Even
without any borrowing for energy transition, the
national debt is equal to more than two-thirds of gross
domestic product.

For South Africa, there also will be a temptation to

treat solar and wind as supplements rather than
replacements for coal power. Political leaders have
made clear that they are not willing to sacrifice growth,
and even as the government pursues its plans, some
have openly argued that coal remains the country’s
best option.

The hardest work, in other words, remains ahead.

Given the urgency of addressing climate change, and
the impetus to extend similar aid to other nations, it
will be crucial to learn, and to adjust, quickly.

3/4
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - BREAKING NEWS - ADVANCED (C1 – C2)

Summarize the deal that has been put in place in South Africa. How can this make a difference
for the world? How likely is it that it will make a difference?

4/4