Buses run by the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA), by the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit system and by virtually all the other metropolitan areas should switch to locally produced green hydrogen fuel to establish points of entry into the new decarbonised world and save South Africa a fortune in foreign exchange.

The plan is to produce the green hydrogen for 20 GMA buses with the help of the wind and the sun.

The proposal is being made by capable entities, including Enertrag, of Germany, a clean-energy group that specialises in electricity and hydrogen from renewable sources, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – for its scientific support – and the International Climate Initiative, for funding.

Fuel cells will allow the buses to enter the era of decarbonisation through the conversion of the green hydrogen into clean electricity with the help of platinum catalysts.

Through the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Research, Development and Innovation Strategy, known as Hydrogen South Africa (HySA), South Africa is in its third and final phase of 15 years of preparation. All that is needed now is a final strong push to take us across the line.

The country has been producing clean hydrogen from sun energy since 2013 and has the wherewithal to succeed in virtually every province.

On a practical front, 20 of GMA’s 125 buses switching to hydrogen is a start and a must for GMA, which has a mandate to ensure sustainability.

Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter believes that Rea Vaya and other metros should follow suit.

Taxis could also take the new route, along with rural offgrid areas that have no power but are expected to take part in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Current petrol stations could begin by each having a single hydrogen pump, as Sasol once had in its early days. Hydrogen, rendered oil-like by technology, can make use of everything that oil uses.

The mining industry, in general, and the platinum mining industry, in particular, could switch to using hydrogen to ventilate all underground workings.

HySA Infrastructure has placed advertisements in Mining Weekly, offering on-site production and storage of hydrogen on mines. Accompanying the switch is the elimination of diesel emissions, improved health, safety and comfort and lower ventilation and operating costs. It sounds like the only way to go for any responsible mining company.

Everything should be made to come together for the benefit of the South African people.

There should be no more delay. Zero tolerance is building up for those countries that fail to clean up their acts.

The next step will be a boycott of goods and services from nations that fail to decarbonise.

It is ‘all or nothing’ and those countries that do nothing will face economic headwinds, while those that at least hold up an anticarbon roadmap will benefit from economic tailwinds. The writing is on the wall.