NCPC-SA’s critical role in decarbonising SA MCA talks to the director of the CSIR’s National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA) about the role it plays in supporting industrial production facilities in mitigating climate change.
introducing what we now call green skills. Then, from an efficiency perspective, we began to do significant work in industrial energy efficiency, initially driven by con- strained energy supplies and load shed- ding. Today, we have divided our efficiency offering into three specific thematic areas: energy efficiency, water efficiency and resource efficiency,” he explains.
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM)
“CBAM is a policy tool, currently in place in the European Union (EU), that puts a carbon price on imported goods from countries with lower carbon pricing policies. It is de- signed to prevent ‘carbon leakage’, which oc- curs when companies move production out of their home country to avoid paying car- bon emissions-related costs. CBAM ensures that imported carbon-intensive products have similar carbon costs to domestically produced ones,” Raphulu explains. “This policy is influencing industry to adopt and use production methods and mechanisms that foster urgency in miti- gating carbon emissions and the adoption of climate adaptation technologies,” he explains. “It also supports localisation, re- search and development, innovation, skills development and capacity building in our country,” he adds. In addition to this EU mechanism, the UK will introduce a CBAM from January 2027, and other importing countries are likely to follow suit. “Following COP 30, I believe several more countries will be committing to a CBAM policy,” he predicts. Identifying and reporting on carbon emissions to comply with schemes such as CBAM can highlight the most effective ways to systematically reduce emissions associated with specific production paths, thereby leading to cleaner production, improved energy and resource efficiency, and increased productivity.
Industrial spaces have significant potential to produce energy for their own consumption and to serve nearby communities, as well as to provide greener infrastructure for industrial companies of all sizes.
W ith a mission to facilitate the transition of South African industry to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy, the National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA) undertakes projects to help industrial facilities adapt and mitigate against climate change: by adopting circular economy principles; establishing sustainable industrial parks with tenants that are energy- efficient, resource-efficient and competitive; developing the skills and resources needed to implement renewable energy and green hydrogen projects; helping production facili- ties with the development of viable business cases for off-grid and local renewable energy plants; and encouraging industrial symbiosis, where companies identify and exchange each other’s waste as alternative and circular raw- material resources. “While I think people in industry are exhausted by the complex set of decisions they are being asked to make to comply with environmental legislation and global developments such as trade tariffs and carbon taxes, the uncertainty also presents opportunities to make a positive impact for the future. We exist to help companies
navigate compliance and take advantage of greener opportunities,” begins Ndivhuho Raphulu, the Director of the NCPC-SA. “The US tariffs, for example, have made industry realise we have a market at our back door, as well as significant unexploited opportunities in the Asian and the South American markets. Our industry and manu- facturing clusters are now reaching out to these communities to foster stronger ties,” he tells MCA . Ndivhuho Raphulu has been involved with the NCPC-SA since 2006, having ini- tially been brought in following an enquiry during Thabo Mbeki’s time as President into the challenges to industrial growth in South Africa. “The key issues that emerged were industrial efficiency, competitiveness and environmental challenges. This programme was established at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to enable in- dustry to address these challenges, with an initial mandate to raise awareness of regula- tions and opportunities that lie in cleaner production, introducing international best practices in South Africa. “We quickly realised there was a critical skills and capacity problem, so we started
South Africa’s decarbonisation mandate
“South Africa has committed and is fa- cilitating industry to comply with global decarbonisation goals in several ways, including the funding and support of NCPC- SA projects to help industry with resource efficiency and the use of clean production methodologies and tools. We have the Carbon Tax, the Climate Change Act, and
6 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2025
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease