ASCIR at the Hydrogen Energy Conference in South Africa
The Afro-Sino Centre participated in a two-day hydrogen energy conference, held in Pretoria, South Africa, 22nd to 23rd November. The conference, organised by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in collaboration with the South African parliament, convened Civil Society Organizations, think tanks and Scholars/Researchers among others, to discuss the global dynamics of coal mining and just transition to hydrogen and renewable energy in South Africa and the continent.
The Executive Director of ASCIR, Pamela Adwoa Carslake and the Centre’s Senior Research Fellow for the environment research pillar, Dr Josef Onjala were at the conference. Dr Onjala played an active role as a member of the conference’s steering committee which oversaw the planning and organization of the conference.
The Centre is excited to be involved in this conference in the lead up to Cop28 to be held in Dubai in December 2023. And also as follow-up to the launch of our biennial media forum on Natural Resources, Environment, Climate change and Science (BiM-NECS forum), inaugurated in June 2023. One of the aims of the BiM-NECS forum is to find African solutions to African Environmental issues and the hydrogen conference on energy transition serves as a reflection of Africans being pro-active towards such issues on the continent.
The Centre acknowledges the need to be involved in these conversations and activities, as well as the importance of research to guide policymakers in these conversations. With China being the world’s biggest producer of hydrogen, it would be interesting to see what role they would play in the continent’s just transition to clean hydrogen and renewable energy.