The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, the continent's largest electricity producer, which derives 80% from coal, argued yesterday that Europe should subsidize the energy transition in his country with compensation of 25%.

"We think that 25% would be a good grant that would allow us to start a just transition process with greater confidence, knowing that we have partners who are serious about implementing the commitment they have made particularly to address the loss and damage aspect," said Cyril Ramaphosa.

The South African head of state, who was speaking at a meeting with South African journalists in London at the end of a state visit to the UK, argued that "there must be compensation for losses and damages" on the part of the "rich" countries.

"We have always said that the most industrialized countries were and have been the biggest polluters and those that have damaged the climate much more than the countries of developing economies, for example, Africa is only responsible for 1% and that is our approach," said the South African President quoted by Lusa.

"The polluter must pay," said the President of the Republic of South Africa, considered the most industrialized economy on the African continent.

Ramaphosa recalled that "the most developed economies must fulfill the commitment they made in the past", referring to the global climate agreement signed in the French capital, Paris, in 2015, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).

"The Paris COP is an example where they promised 100 billion dollars [96.6 billion euros] a year, which they never kept and they also admit that," he said.

"They are now closing agreements for a just energy transition with various countries and our agreement was a trade agreement and, when we analyzed that agreement, we discovered that the subsidy component of what they put on the table, as I said, amounts to 2.7%," he said.

The South African President said that he would like "that part of the subsidy to be increased" and there have been "discussions with one of the European countries and they are prepared to increase it to 25% of what they are proposing".

In this regard, Ramaphosa also said that the rich countries' proposal also covers "concession loans with very good and low interest rates and which would be extended for a period" that the South African economy "can afford and absorb".

South Africa, which is considered the largest electricity producer on the continent, which sources 80% from coal, also imports 75% of the total output of the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant (HCB) in Mozambique, one of the main pollutants of the planet's atmosphere worldwide.

The Witbank Power Station, which began operating in May 1926, was the first coal-fired power station in South Africa since the founding of Escom in 1923 (which changed its name to Eskom in 1987), according to the South African state electricity company.