{"id":322082,"date":"2026-01-14T12:20:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322082"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:20:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:20:58","slug":"south-africas-pres-ramaphosa-on-uae-visit-economic-growth-ambitions-and-climate-action-are-mutually-beneficial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322082","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s Pres Ramaphosa on UAE visit: Economic growth ambitions and climate action are mutually beneficial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/
World leaders at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Summit 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

ABU DHABI, Jan 14 (NNN-SANEWS) — A nation\u2019s climate action goals and economic ambitions can work in tandem for greater prosperity, said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, who spoke during a fireside chat at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2026, held in that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn fact, countries that have embarked on climate action strategies, have found that those interventions do finally yield economic growth. So therefore, one needs to see climate action as a driver and an enabler for economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more we embrace clean energy, the more new technologies come about, new opportunities open up and we find that there are new sub-sectors of the economy that are established and where we might close certain sub-sectors, new ones open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore, it\u2019s not a binary question. It\u2019s a mutually inclusive and reinforcing approach,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned that focus on one side could be detrimental to the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we focus on economic growth, to the detriment of climate taking climate action, you\u2019ll find that in the long term, you have economic stagnation or reversal. If you focus on the other only, you\u2019ll find that your economy may grow but it will not grow well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA dual approach, focusing on both, can actually drive the economy forward,\u201d the President added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on South Africa\u2019s drive to raise financing for the Just Energy Transition, President Ramaphosa noted that government went about setting its own climate plan and agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the advantages [to this] was, we were able to raise finance smartly, we were able to raise fairly good, blended finance initiatives, grants, concessional financing\u2026so the blended finance architecture was quite good and innovative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were first from the starting blocks and we\u2019re very pleased that a number of countries from the global south have followed in the wake of what South Africa did. We now have attracted, particularly in the Northern Cape\u2026 more than R110 billion in investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat has happened because it was South Africa designed and we got the financiers to work with us. There was nothing imposed on us like it has happened in the past. In the past, financiers have focused on what they could get out and we have focused on cooperation. A cooperative process has now been followed and both of us are involved,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning to the Africa\u2019s potential role as an exporter of green energy, President Ramaphosa highlighted the continent\u2019s endowment of vast amounts of sun, wind power and hydropower as areas of opportunity for investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA combination of all three, as well as our minerals, gives rise to great opportunities where we can generate energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Some] 600 million people on the African continent, still lack electricity. That, in itself, rather than being a challenge, we see it as an opportunity\u2026 that we can utilise all these endowments \u2013 our minerals \u2013 instead of exporting rock, soil and stones. We should now beneficiate, add value to our minerals so that they are properly utilised in the energy generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrica is the centre where green hydrogen can [also] be greatly utilised. We can use our solar, wind and in doing so, Africa can become an exporter of energy. This is where we invite financiers, investors to come to the African continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got great opportunities for generating energy\u2026and infrastructure development in Africa is going to explode by leaps and bounds and on the back of energy generation and good financing, we will be able to see higher levels of growth. I invite you\u2026 to come to the African continent and invest there. That is where the future is,\u201d Ramaphosa concluded. — NNN-SANEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABU DHABI, Jan 14 (NNN-SANEWS) — A nation\u2019s climate action goals and economic ambitions can work in tandem for greater prosperity, said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, who spoke during a fireside chat at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2026, held in that country. \u201cIn fact, countries that have embarked on climate action strategies, have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":322085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322082"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322086,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322082\/revisions\/322086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}