As Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms tighten, South Africa’s exporters face carbon-priced trade realities – making electricity reform, credible trading partners, and bankable decarbonisation central to future competitiveness.
The energy transition in South Africa (SA) has entered a decisive phase. The question is no longer whether new capacity will be built, but how effectively it is integrated into the economy – and who is trusted to do so.
For energy-intensive sectors such as mining, electricity has become a strategic variable, shaping costs, emissions profiles, and long-term competitiveness.
The latest Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM) implementation measures issued by the European Commission at the end of 2025 move the mechanism from ‘transition administration’ into a tighter compliance-and-cost regime.
For SA, the practical effect is straightforward: exporters cannot treat embedded emissions as a reporting exercise on the margins of the business. It is becoming a priced variable in trade.
The policy direction is deliberately incentive-driven. Where firms rely on default emissions values, the EU is signalling that this route will become progressively more expensive through scheduled mark-ups, pushing exporters towards verified, product-specific emissions data.
In parallel, the monitoring, reporting, and verification rules have been tightened into a clearer rulebook, but clarity now comes with enforceable requirements, including verification expectations that will add cost, operational burden, and potential border friction if audit readiness is weak.
A CALL FOR REFORM
For SA, the strategic point is clear – electricity choices are now trade relevant. Power is both a core cost input and a material source of emissions embedded in exported goods.
In a carbon-constrained global economy, reducing price volatility while lowering carbon intensity is becoming a condition of market access, not a sustainability ‘nice to have’.
That is why electricity market reform matters commercially, not only politically. As reforms advance towards a more open and tradable market, including the development of the South African Wholesale Electricity Market, large customers gain more scope to contract intelligently, manage volatility, and lower carbon intensity in ways that stand up to external scrutiny.
But more choice also raises the bar. Industrial firms need partners who can execute reliably, carry risk appropriately, and navigate grid and regulatory complexity without creating new exposure.
Lyra Energy was established in response to this need. As a licensed electricity trader backed by Scatec and STANLIB, Lyra brings together complementary strengths that are rarely aligned in the South African context.
Scatec contributes global experience in developing, owning, and operating renewable energy assets across multiple markets, alongside a proven track record of delivering projects at scale.
STANLIB adds deep local market insight, institutional governance, and a long-term investment perspective rooted in South Africa’s economy.
Together, this enables Lyra to participate in the market not as an intermediary, but as a credible counterparty.
AN ENABLING COMBINATION
Access to readily available renewable capacity – combined with trading capability and a strong understanding of grid and regulatory dynamics – allows Lyra to support industrial consumers in making the transition from passive electricity buyers to active market participants.
For energy-intensive sectors such as mining and export-exposed manufacturing, this combination matters: it enables firms to move beyond procurement of megawatts towards bankable decarbonisation, audit-ready emissions claims, and resilient energy strategies that protect competitiveness under regimes like CBAM.
In a carbon-constrained trade environment, the competitive edge will belong to firms that treat energy procurement as a strategic function and to market participants capable of converting reform into a measurable, auditable advantage.
Energy is no longer just power. It is positioning.
ABOUT THE EXPERT
Liesel Kassier is a Senior Business Developer at Lyra Energy, specializing in the energy and climate change sector with a strong background as an economist.
Based in SA, she focuses on sustainable business models, carbon, and trade, and also has experience in green manufacturing and finance.
Kassier is an economist with a Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Economics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a master’s in development finance from the Frankfurt School, and a BSc in Environmental Science.
