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E-book Coal and Energy in South Africa : Considering a Just Transition
There is broad agreement among scientists that the earth is becoming warmer (Hughes, 2000). The amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere through human activities is a leading contributor to global warming (Warner and Jones, 2019). Capitalist-driven economic activity and coal are intertwined (Piketty, 2014). Continuing with these emission levels will increase the nature of the cur-rent environmental problems. However, political leaders have been responding slowly. Acknowledging the problem and committing to doing something is a good starting point. The Paris Agreement is one such attempt to slow global warm-ing by reducing CO2 emissions. A large percentage of these emissions are from using coal to generate energy. Therefore, reducing the role of coal in creating energy would contribute to lowering CO2 emissions. However, the Paris Agree-ment only tries to slow the growth rate of global warming. Another response to dealing with the climate crisis prioritises renewable energy sources (Simelane and Abdel-Raman, 2011). The costs of not attending to the threats of global warming are extensive. The literature points to several concerns, such as increased temperatures, rainfall variation and rising sea levels (Hughes, 2000). These changes are likely to nega-tively aff ect animals (including humans), plant life and ecological equilibria. The fl ooding and erosion of low-lying coastal areas, increased heat-related deaths and health pandemics are likely to have signifi cant economic consequences for humans.
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