TIPS_report_The_coal_value_chain_in_South_Africa_July_May_

• How fast to move in reducing emissions and other coal-based pollution, and by extension the rigor of the associated incentives and penalties, including the carbon tax and the implementation of the national Integrated Resource Plan for electricity. [...] As a result, the share of coal in mining employment climbed from a tenth at the start of the 21st Century to a fifth in the late 2010s. [...] Taken together, the coal municipalities in Mpumalanga accounted for only 2% of the population and 2% of the economy outside of the coal value chain. [...] But focusing on mining underplays the significance of coal for the economy as a whole, and consequently the impact of the disruptions that emerged in the 2010s. [...] At the macroeconomic level, the impacts emerged in the steep increase in Eskom and coal revenues relative to the economy; falling demand for grid electricity, which contributed to stagnant domestic coal sales; and in 2020/21, during the pandemic, the slow recovery in electricity production.