DETERMINING THE COST OF ADDITIONAL CO 2 EMISSION MITIGATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTRICITY SYSTEM 
July 2020 Version 1.0 (info@meridianeconomics.co.za)
Adam Roff, Dr Grové Steyn, Dr Emily Tyler, Celeste Renaud, Rian Brand and Jesse Burton, in collaboration with the CSIR Energy Centre
THE QUESTIONS WE SET OUT TO ANSWER
 • Can South Africa meet its power demand for the coming decades whilst drastically reducing CO2 emissions from electricity generation? 
• Do future versions of our power system with lower emissions result in higher electricity costs? – how much higher? – and for how much emission reduction?
 • Is there an inflection point, in other words, a level of emission reduction beyond which the cost of cleaner power becomes unaffordable? 
• Why is this important?
– To inform rational policy decisions
– To allow mitigation to be priced and any need for funds required to increase ambition to be quantified 
– To provide guidance regarding the size and cost of a possible climate transaction
HOW MUCH WILL ADDITIONAL MITIGATION COST? 
If we move to scenarios with lower emissions than Least Cost, how much more will electricity system costs increase?