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The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is forecasting that South Africa will add 5.4 GW of new wind capacity over the coming five years to the end of 2026, even though procurement delays will lead to lower levels of deployment in 2022 when compared with 2021.

GWEC’s ‘Global Wind Report 2022’ notes that South Africa remains the largest wind market in sub-Saharan Africa, with about 3.1 GW of capacity already connected to the grid.

South Africa installed a record 668 MW in 2021 - capacity linked primarily to projects procured as part of the much-delayed fourth bid window (BW4) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

The report expects installations to be lower in 2022, owing to renewed procurement delays, as well as the fact that projects procured under BW5 will enter commercial operation within three years.

Twelve wind projects were selected as preferred bids following the adjudication of BW5 submissions last year and the projects are currently scheduled to achieve financial close at the end of April.

“The latest BW5 in October 2021 attracted bids amounting to nearly four times the capacity awarded, resulting in a record 12 wind farms winning bids,” the report states, adding that 46 wind projects have, to date, been awarded to various developers under the REIPPPP.

GWEC expects the growth momentum in South Africa to be maintained during the rest of the forecast period to 2026.

“In total, 14 GW of new capacity is expected to be added in Africa/Middle East in the next five years (2022-2026), which is primarily driven by growth from South Africa (5.4 GW), Egypt (2.2 GW) and Morocco (1.8 GW) in Africa, and Saudi Arabia (1.3 GW) in the Middle East.”

The report also notes that South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan to 2030 outlines a primary role for renewable energy in the future power mix, requiring an additional 20.4 GW of renewable energy capacity in this decade.

It also highlights the country’s 2021 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) pledge to limit greenhouse gas emissions to between 420-million and 350-million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions by 2030 – a 12% to 31% reduction from the country’s previous NDC of 2016.

“Timely implementation of these strategies will be necessary to decarbonise the power system in South Africa, and will include addressing some of the financial and operational challenges of the State-owned utility Eskom, as well as committing to regular procurement of large-scale renewable-energy projects,” the report states.

The ongoing restructuring of Eskom, including the creation of an independent transmission entity, together with a market reform enabling sub-100 MW projects to proceed without a licence, “will further incentivise renewable-energy development”, as could the “milestone” COP26 offer of $8.5-billion to support South Africa’s just transition away from coal.

The South African energy market still has key challenges to overcome, however, with the report indicating that further regulatory changes will be necessary to support the transition to cleaner sources.

“Investors and financiers require as much policy certainty as possible, with supportive frameworks which allow for wheeling and the signing of direct power purchase agreements with independent power producers without Ministerial approval.

“Stable pipelines of wind projects can be created through continuous and regular capacity procurement, including a long-term and on-time auction schedule, as well as a more robust REIPPPP process which can minimise delays for selection and contract completion.”

The report warns that grid constraints in the three provinces of the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape are curtailing the roll-out of shovel-ready projects and affecting investment certainty.

The report expresses some optimism, however, that an imminent Generation Connection Capacity Assessment report could provide more clarity on capacity planning and

transmission connections.

It also notes tha...

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) says it will invest more than R76-million in seven new contracts to benefit local communities that live around the N2 Wild Coast Road Project in the Eastern Cape.

The seven new subcontracting tenders that will be awarded shortly include a bush clearing project east and west of Mzimvubu river; repairs to the R61 between Ndwalane and Ntafufu roads; repairs to the main roads through Lusikisiki; repairs to the R61 between Lusikisiki and Zalu road; repairs to the R61 between Bukazi and Flagstaff; as well as repairs to the Flagstaff town bypass and road to Holy Cross.

An additional four first-tier tenders have also already been advertised by Sanral in the region and are currently under adjudication.

These include the rehabilitation of the Ingquza Hill Memorial road; upgrading of roads in Ntlavukazi village; upgrading of the DR8004 road from the R61 national road to Bambisana Hospital road; as well as the design of the upgrading of the road from Bizana to Mbongweni village.

These four tenders should be awarded by September.

Sanral N2 Wild Coast Road Project manager Craig McLachlan says R278-million has been paid to date to local small, medium-sized and microenterprises, including 28 suppliers, 52 service providers and 27 subcontractors, that are currently undertaking work on the Msikaba Bridge project.

“In addition, R45.9-million has so far been paid on wages to over 300 skilled and unskilled labourers drawn from the surrounding local communities, as well as the surrounding local municipalities of Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill and Winnie Madikizela Mandela.”

“We are proud to say that we have already exceeded one of our targets on the Msikaba Bridge project,” says McLachlan.

“The targeted labour for youth is 30% of the total projected wage bill and we have already achieved 102.6% of this target. So far, we have also achieved 45.4% of the target for women employment.”

The Msikaba Bridge project is expected to be completed in May 2024.

Sanral says the tender for the N2 Mtentu Bridge project is “awaiting announcement by its board”.

This project failed at its first attempt to get off the ground owing to conflict within the community and at the project site, and was retendered.

Roads Transfer

Sanral has also announced that Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has agreed to a request from Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane for some of the province’s roads to be transferred to Sanral.

These include the R61 from Tombo outside of Port St John’s to Mzamba at the Umtamvuna river; the DR0838 road from the R61 to Cala; the DR08012 road from Maluti to Qachas Nek at the Lesotho border; the DR08031 and DR18031 roads from Viedgesville to Coffee Bay; as well as the MR00710 road from the R61 to the R56 (Satan’s Nek).

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has published the long-awaited Green Drop Certification Programme Report, awarding just 23 wastewater systems – 22 municipal systems and 1 private system – the Green Drop Certification status.

The report, in which all water services authorities, comprising 995 wastewater networks and treatment works, were subjected to the Green Drop Audit from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, showed that the 23 wastewater systems scored a minimum of 90% when measured against the Green Drop standards and qualified for Green Drop Certification, compared with the 60 systems awarded Green Drop Certification status in 2013.

The water service institutions that were Green Drop certified include the City of Ekurhuleni, Lesedi local municipality, iLembe district municipality, uMgungundlovu district municipality, Witzenberg local municipality, Bitou local municipality, Drakenstein local municipality, the City of Cape Town, Saldanha Bay local municipality, Mosselbay local municipality and Sasol Sasolburg.

The audit, which covered 144 water services authorities comprising 850 systems, 12 Department of Public Works (DPW) with 115 systems and five private and State-owned organisations comprising 30 systems, identified a further 30 Green Drop Contender systems with audit scores of between 88% and 89%, but with microbiological- and chemical effluent quality not meeting the Green Drop Certification standard.

Green Drop Certification is awarded to wastewater systems that obtain scores of above 90% when compared against the criteria set for wastewater management, while a system that achieved less than 31% is regarded as a dysfunctional system which would require appropriate interventions.

A total of 334, or 39%, of municipal wastewater systems were identified to be in a critical state in 2021, compared with 248, or 29%, in 2013, which indicates that there has been regress in the state of the wastewater systems.

This decline is at both the treatment and sewer collection levels.

Limpopo has 78% of its systems in a critical state, followed by the Northern Cape with 76%, the North West with 69%, Free State with 67%, Mpumalanga with 43%, the Eastern Cape with 39%, Gauteng with 15%, KwaZulu-Natal with 14% and the Western Cape with 11%.

The results indicated that the vast majority of rural municipalities struggle to score more than 50% with only 5% of systems in Free State and Limpopo reaching this threshold, compared with 75% of the systems in Gauteng.

The Green Drop audit process established that water services institutions with low levels of investment in infrastructure and low capacity in respect of skilled personnel, were more likely to have wastewater systems in a critical state.

A total of 102 (89%) out of the 115 DPW systems were identified as in critical state, scoring below 31%, compared with 84% in 2013. Of the private systems, one plant was identified as in critical state.

Only two DPW systems received Green Drop scores of more than 50%.

Twenty-five, or 83%, of the 30 private- and State-owned systems assessed scored above 50%.

“It is of great concern that there are so many systems with scores below 31%, indicating a dismal state of wastewater management, posing a risk to both environment and public health,” said Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.

“I need to make it clear that action will be taken against those municipalities that flagrantly put the lives of our people and environment at risk. As Minister of Water and Sanitation, I am engaging the Minister of Cooperative Governance [and Traditional Affairs] to ensure that as National Government we take drastic intervention measures towards the improvement of water services.”

The programme aims to assist municipalities to strive for improvement in their management of wastewater as part of the incentive-based regulation approach.

“We recognised that as a flagship project, this incentive-based regulation programme has the power to mobilise the wastewater s...

State-owned freight logistics group Transnet has officially launched the much-anticipated bidding process for 16 rail slots, which will be sold to third-party operators for a period of two years on a take-or-pay basis.

A bid submission date of May 31 has been set and Transnet expects to announce winning bidders on June 30.

Successful bidders would then need to secure an operating licence from the Rail Safety Regulator and Transnet is optimistic that the first third-party operators should be able to begin moving cargo by October.

Six slots have been advertised on the underperforming container corridor between Durban and City Deep, while a further ten slots are being made available on the ‘southern corridor’ to East London, in the Eastern Cape, including two slots that could open rail access for automotive cargoes to and from Pretoria, in Gauteng.

Besides container and automotive freight, Transnet expects the other slots to be filled mainly by operators that have access to agricultural cargoes.

Within the 16-slot allocation, various slot configurations will be considered, including assigning some of the container slots to agriculture cargoes arising from Bethlehem, in the Free State, or from Polokwane, in the Limpopo province.

CEO Portia Derby stresses that the slots will be sold on a ‘Voetstoots’ basis, implying that the third-party operators will have to accept the current state and performance of the network, which is being seriously disrupted by ongoing theft and vandalism, including large-scale cable theft.

She says a key objective is to fix the infrastructure, which remains the responsibility of Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), and to elevate it to a level where the number of slots can be increased in future.

High levels of theft and vandalism on the Durban-to-City Deep corridor have increase running times to an average of 36 hours, as opposed the corridor’s original 18-hour design.

Any reduction in operating hours will increase the number of slots available for both TFR, which will remain the dominant operator on the rail network, and third-party operators.

Derby also sees the slot-sale process as an opportunity to enter into a deeper collaboration with the private sector to improve safety and security on the container corridor, in line with the partnering success the utility is currently enjoying on the coal corridor from Mpumalanga to Richards Bay.

In preparation for the slot sale, TFR has ringfenced its railway infrastructure management from rail operations. Nevertheless, TFR remains a vertically integrated business and has also retained ‘grandfather rights’ on all current slots.

TRF will also review slot uptake on a quarterly basis and could consider readvertising a slot if a private train operator company consistently falls short of the 75% utilisation target set for each slot.

TFR CEO Sizakele Mzimela reports that slot pricing will be communicated at a stakeholder engagement session to be held on April 8, but indicates that these will be favourable to operators and will include a subsidy component.

The decision to subsidise the initial operators has been made to incentivise uptake in a way that meets the objective of corridor “densification” and the migration of freight cargo from road to rail.

Mzimela says that the State-owned entity is hoping to attract operators with access to locomotives and wagons, but that Transnet will also entertain solutions that involve the use of TFR rolling stock.

She is optimistic, however, that the slot-sale process will attract logistics companies with access to cargoes, rolling stock and warehouses.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says the slot sales have been aligned with the structural reform efforts being driven under Operation Vulindlela, which is a joint initiative of the Presidency and the National Treasury.

He adds that the objective is to improve freight logistics efficiency and reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa.

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has crystallised thinking globally around the energy transition, what this means for South Africa, the importance of critical minerals in the energy transition and steps taken by the South African government to mitigate rising fuel prices.

A new report on the role of gas in South Africa’s electricity system argues that it would be a “costly mistake” to pursue large gas-to-power investments in light of a shrinking role for gas in the power sector and improving prospects for greener alternatives.

Published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the report suggests that a pause be placed on any gas-to-power development until at least 2030. This, given its analysis showing that gas supply to the electricity industry will be unnecessary until 2035, by which date the penetration of variable renewable energy should be such that system balancing would be required.

“The electricity market will also enter a new age around 2035, as most coal generators will be phased out.

“For this reason, the gas industry has identified an opportunity to expand gas usage and investment in gas generators, with a view to delivering peaking, balancing, and perhaps even bulk supply from gas.

“This would be a costly mistake,” the report asserts, while highlighting improving prospects for alternatives such as green hydrogen.

Delivering the report’s findings on Thursday, IISD policy adviser Richard Halsey explained that there was no economic case for bulk or peaking supply from new-build gas plants, while there was significant uncertainty about the role of gas in providing balancing or back-up capacity.

Halsey also highlighted several risks associated with a large-scale gas-to-power deployment, including the risk of building stranded assets, which would be written off well before the end of their operational lives.

The report even warns that the development of a gas-to-power industry, base on the notion of gas as a transition fuel, could add to South Africa’s just-transition burden. Such a “short-lived industry” would leave a new generation of gas workers and communities facing hardships similar to those currently confronting the coal sector.

“Because gas is both high risk and not necessary in the power sector until at least 2035, a decision on a future requirement for gas should be revisited around 2030 based on available technologies and costs at that time,” the report, titled ‘Gas Pressure: Exploring the case for gas-fired power in South Africa’, argues.

Halsey also warns against seeking to anchor the development of a domestic gas industry on the back of a gas-to-power roll-out, describing such an approach as akin to placing the “cart before the horse”.

“Decisions need to be made in the right order.

“National energy planning must first demonstrate that gas-to-power investment is optimal in terms of its primary function, which is to generate electricity, before it is used as a way to motivate for other investments, such as developing gas supply.”

The report thus calls for both a transparent process of revising the Integrated Resource Plan for electricity and the development of an Integrated Energy Plan (IRP), where the role of gas outside of the power sector can be evaluated.

Prior to 2030, the report argues that the focus should be on bringing renewables capacity online as fast as possible.

“As the least-cost, lowest-carbon supply option with shortest lead times, renewables must form the basis of all new generation infrastructure to address current power shortages, enable optimal pumped storage usage and allow for ambitious coal phase-out.

“Furthermore, the rate of capacity addition must be scaled up significantly from the current IRP 2019.

“This is the most future-proof way to address load-shedding.”

Transnet Pipelines says the containment processes at Verkykerskop, where there was a major theft-related diesel spill on the multiproduct pipeline in early March, are nearing completion and that rehabilitation efforts have started.

Verkykerskop is about 50 km from Harrismith, in the Free State, and the multiproduct pipeline from Durban to Heidelberg runs through the area.

The spill, a video of which was widely shared on media and social media platforms, took place in the early hours of the morning of March 9, and it was later confirmed that some of the diesel had flowed into the Meul river.

The video showed diesel gushing from the pipeline in broad daylight, leading to questions as to whether there was still pressure in a line that is meant to respond automatically to drops in pressure.

Transnet Pipelines’ explanation is that, even when the pipeline is shutdown, there is “line fill which then still flows out the pipeline, dependant on the typography of the land”.

The spill sparked significant environmental concern, as the Meul river is a tributary of the Wilge river, which is itself a tributary to the Vaal river.

Transnet Pipelines estimates that more than 500 000 litres of diesel was lost, but has not yet calculated how much was stolen and how much either penetrated the soil or flowed into the river.

The State-owned entity says emergency teams were immediately deployed to site to contain the spill and recover the product.

To limit the water contamination, booms were placed at intervals down the river as “catchment areas” for the spilled fuel and to prevent the spread of diesel downstream.

“Their placement has been successful in containing and recovering of the product,” spokesperson Saret Knoetze says.

In addition to the booms, cut off trenches have been dug and absorbents placed in the river to “catch” the diesel.

The Verkykerskop spill is but one of 151 sites contaminated over the past three years as a result of 450 fuel-theft incidents.

Knoetze says the extent of the environmental damage varies from minimal to major and insists that there is a specific rehabilitation plan to address each site.

She also invited landowners who are dissatisfied with these efforts to approach Transnet Pipelines directly.

“We have been addressing a number of farmers and as advised, plans are currently under way to expedite the rehabilitation of all remaining sites.”

She acknowledges that some plans take longer to execute than others, depending on the extent of the contamination.

“Thus far we have closed off on the majority of these sites and are awaiting the necessary closure certificates for some of these from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).

“There are some sites, however, which require extensive rehabilitation.”

She also stresses that there is no fixed rehabilitation plan.

“The first step is always to contain and recover.

“We then, through an external service provider, assess the extent of the damage and contamination; once assessed we develop a remediation and rehabilitation plan and then we execute the plan.

“There is no one size fits all as all sites differ, which results in different timeframes.”

Knoetze says the specific site plan is discussed with and agreed to with DFFE and the landowner.

“We have very specific reporting requirements and have been reporting all incidents to the department as required.”

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has confirmed the “postponement” of the signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs) for projects selected as part of the controversial Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

A signing ceremony was expected to take place in Pretoria on Thursday, March 31; the already delayed deadline for the projects to reach financial close.

Eleven projects, including three gas-fuelled powership projects, were selected last year, with an initial financial close deadline of July 2021.

That deadline was extended initially to the end of September last year, then to January this year and later to the end of March.

No new deadline was provided.

The DMRE has confirmed with Engineering News that the March 31 ceremony was postponed “due to outstanding matters and conditions to be addressed in respect of the PPAs with Eskom, and the need to provide the preferred bidders and their lenders adequate time to undertake due diligence reviews of the project agreements”.

It did not elaborate on the outstanding matter, but Eskom has previously raised concerns over the lack of clarity on the maximum price methodology for gas.

“Consultations with the buyer, Eskom, are under way.

“A new date for the signing of PPAs will be communicated to the affected parties in due course,” the DMRE said in response to an enquiry.

The department also referred to a statement made by Minister Gwede Mantashe during the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2022 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), which committed the department to concluding the PPAs for the project.

In his SoNA, Ramaphosa announced that only 800 MW of the nearly 2 000 MW in projects selected were ready to proceed.

This raised speculation that PPAs for the three powership projects – which comprised 1 200 MW of the 1 996 MW being procured and which have faced environmental authorisation, legal and licensing challenges – were unlikely to be signed by the end of March.

The South African coal, chrome, iron-ore and manganese mining sectors lost between R39-billion and R50-billion in export earnings last year as Transnet struggled with capacity to rail bigger volumes of these commodities to ports, says economists.co.za chief economist Mike Schussler.

“To put this into context, this is about 1% of the country’s gross domestic product, and it would have added about 12.5% to the whole mining sector.

“And I’m not even talking about losses in the agriculture sector here.”

In total, rail traffic volumes in South Africa have dropped by 2.9% from a year ago, this while road transport (ton/km) has expanded by 16.8%, says Schussler.

Rail’s share of general freight in South Africa reached 7.5% in 2020, he laments, down from 26.8% in 1990.

While Schussler applauds the introduction of the new White Paper on National Rail Policy, he warns that it will not be a “fast road back to rail”, as “the infrastructure side” may be found lacking.

Road freight operators have also developed sophisticated door-to-door systems, with cargo that can be temperature controlled and tracked every step of the way.

The trucking industry, especially coal transporters, are also unlikely to simply surrender their customers.

Taxi operators may also prove unwilling to give up their share to passenger rail, as can be witnessed in the frequent attacks on bus operators.

New White Paper

Cabinet on March 23 approved a document 12 years in the making – the White Paper on National Rail Policy, which is to be gazetted in April, says Department of Transport deputy director-general rail Ngwako Makaepea.

African Rail Industry Association (Aria) chairperson James Holley says the industry body applauds the launch of the document, which should lead to private sector participation in the rail sector.

He notes that Transnet has already announced that Phase 1 of third-party access (or private sector access) to its infrastructure would see the State-owned enterprise make six slots available on the container corridor between Durban and Johannesburg, and ten slots between Johannesburg and East London and Nelson Mandela Bay.

“Last week the White Paper was adopted by Parliament. Furthermore, last week the Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interest in Mobile Equipment was signed by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.

“Goodness me, this is progress,” says Holley. “Our industry is starting to believe in government’s reform agenda.”

Holley says the Protocol will lower the cost of financing “materially”.

It will also create alignment between South African law and international laws, which will assist in the sourcing of international funders for the local market.

Holley says while Aria has not seen the last version of the White Paper, the last version it did view “was encouraging”.

In terms of freight, the new policy, which sets the stage for third-party access, sees the creation of an interim regulator to oversee implementation of the first phases of the planned rail reform, and to mediate disputes. This regulator will be replaced by a Transport Economic Regulator upon its formation.

Holley says the White Paper also allows for the vertical separation of Transnet into infrastructure owner, infrastructure manager and train operator, in line with global best practice.

“It sets out the equal rights of private operators and Transnet.

“It sets out that branch line concessionaires should have complete main line access for the freight they have sourced.

“It talks about network – about wide access and not just limited access.

“It talks about the infrastructure manager providing access rights if the conditions for acceptance are in place.”

Holley says it is equally important that the White Paper sets out that there should be implications for the non-use of slots by operators, and the non-provision of slots by network operators.

“This goes a long way to provide certainty to operators who are to invest billions of rand in new train asse...

The Just Transition Partnership signed between South Africa and several developed countries in late 2021 has been held up as an example of the type of ‘climate and development partnership’ that the German government plans to pursue both bilaterally and multilaterally as part of a development policy that includes climate action as a core pillar.

In an address to the 2022 edition of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said such partnerships were a “new key element” that Germany was pursuing to support developing countries in their transitions toward climate neutrality and resilience.

“An example of this is the ‘Just Energy Transition Partnership’ concluded with South Africa,” Schulze said, referring to the $8.5-billion partnership offer made to South Africa at the COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland.

Germany’s contribution would be €700-million, or about $780-million.

“In addition to Germany, Great Britain, France, the US and the European Union are also helping South Africa to overcome its coal dependency and avoid up to 1.5 gigatons of emissions over the next 20 years,” she said.

Schulze added that South Africa's role as a regional electricity supplier meant that the partnership could also have an impact beyond national borders.

UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng also made specific reference to the partnership with South Africa in his address to the Berlin conference, in which he underlined the need for international collaboration to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed former South African Reserve Bank deputy governor Daniel Mminele to head the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team, which has been established to lead the mobilisation of funds, including the $8.5-billion offered at COP26, for a just transition to a low-carbon economy.

It is understood that South Africa is keen to negotiate highly concessional terms for the debt component of the package, while securing grants for those elements for which funding would otherwise be difficult to source.

It is not yet certain when the first funding will flow, with the offer itself indicating that the finance will be mobilised over the next three to five years.

Ramaphosa told investors this month that the partnership would involve repurposing and repowering some of Eskom’s coal plants, while creating new livelihoods for workers and communities most impacted by the change.

There have also been indications that a smaller portion of the funding could be used to support preparations for the development of a green hydrogen industry and electric vehicle manufacturing.

Schulze said that industrialised countries needed to support countries of the ‘Global South’ to develop in an environmentally and climate-friendly manner, including by supporting their conversion to reliable renewable energy systems.

“My guiding principle is the 'Just Transition' as part of a global structural policy.

“For me, the energy transition is not merely a technical transformation of the energy sector, but also a socioeconomic transformation.

“The energy transition must be socially acceptable and for this to happen, all the people affected must be included and benefit from the associated structural change.”

She reported that Germany was working with the G7 partners to establish further climate and development partnerships, while pursuing bilateral partnerships.

In February, Germany agreed a climate and development partnership with Rwanda and Schulze announced that climate and development partnerships were also being implemented with Pakistan and Serbia.

“The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is intensively committed to the global energy transition - both in bilateral cooperation with its partner countries and in cooperation with other donors, international organizations, business and science,” Schulze said.

She also made a direct link between Germany’s move to climate neutrality and ...