Business Day TV - 15 March 2021 by Michael Avery

Michael Avery talks to a panel about SA’s hydrogen economy ambitions

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Business Day - 22 March 2021 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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Engineering News - 25 March 2021 by Terence Creamer

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ESI Africa - 26 March 2021 by Theresa Smith

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Fin 24 - 29 March 2021 by Lameez Omarjee

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ESI Africa - 30 March 2021 by Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl

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Fin 24 - 31 March 2021 by Lameez Omarjee

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Business Day - 5 April 2021 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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Business Day TV - 15 April 2021 by Michael Avery

Michael Avery chats to his expert guests about the the growing market for electric vehicles and its sustainability within the SA economy in the future

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Business Day - 19 April 2021 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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Business Day - 3 May 2021 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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SUMMARY: The briefing paper aims to give clarity to the terminology “Just Transition” and related concepts like “growth”, “economic democracy” and “second generation rights” within the context of the current South African political economic model. The paper notes the structural dysfunctions of the South African economy and how the economic model is failing to achieve South Africa’s developmental and environmental goals of sustainability. The paper identifies the challenges and opportunities of achieving a Just Transition to a low-carbon economy and the key issues which need to be mainstreamed in policies and negotiations to ensure that adaptation and mitigation interventions promote economic democracy.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The paper presents the developmental state as an economic model to support a Just Transition and highlights enabling conditions provided by the International Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of South African Trade Unions. These include Investing in environmentally friendly activities that create decent jobs that pay living wages, meet health and safety standards, promote gender equity, and that are secure; putting in place comprehensive social protections for the most vulnerable; researching the impacts of climate change on employment and livelihoods; and developing skills and retraining workers to ensure that they can be part of the new low-carbon development model.

SUMMARY: The report provides a segmented view of the net direct job creation expected in the formal economy across a wide range of technologies/activities that may be classified as green or contributing to the greening of the economy. The report aims to contribute to strategic planning. It highlights implementation challenges to unlock the green economy`s potential. It brings to the fore the importance of stakeholder interventions to develop competitive advantage in specific green areas. The report covers 26 industries including the energy generation, energy and resource efficiency, emission and pollution mitigation, and natural resource management sectors.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: Recommendations for greening the economy should result in expansions of productive capacity and service delivery across a wide spectrum of economic sectors, although contractions may be experienced in others. This should be progressively supported by investment activity and result in meaningful employment creation. A growing green economy should also translate into opportunities for localisation of production, either by using existing production capabilities, or the establishing new capacity.

SUMMARY: This case study examines the 100 MW Eskom (CSP) power tower plant in Upington being developed by Eskom. The report analyses in detail what worked and what did not in the project’s financial, political and technological risk management and aims to inform the efforts of public entities such as national governments and Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) to design national and international public finance programs to deploy CSP and other emerging technologies

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The report notes , among other findings, that the Eskom CSP project in South Africa is one of the most ambitious and technically challenging CSP projects in development outside the US both in its proposed technology choice (power tower), generating capacity (100 MW), and the 9-12 hours of storage. Eskom relied on political support and concessional lending from international financial institutions to develop the CSP. However, foreign debt implied additional risks for the utility. Public sources of finance are essential to bridge the viability gap between CSP power towers and cheaper alternatives.

SUMMARY: The paper reconceptualises the relationship between development and sustainability. The paper endeavours to fuse the core conceptual concerns of the developmental state and sustainability transition literatures. The difference between South Africa’s dual developmental and environmental trajectories and the East Asian experience is presented.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The paper adopts a pessimistic outlook on a Just Transition in South Africa, arguing that South Africa is an institutionally weak state that has not broken the power of the Minerals Energy Complex within the socio-political regime, not promoted employment-creating industrialisation and has facilitated accelerated financialisation. At the same time a myriad of environmental and resource challenges have emerged, without an adequate paradigmatic framework to ensure full understanding of what is going on within the socio-political regime.

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SUMMARY: The booklet makes a case for a project to address the waste and pollution legacy of mining in the Witwatersrand basin with a clear linkage between the potential for revenue generation through materials reclamation and comprehensively addressing the entire rehabilitation challenge, with the participation of all stakeholders. The paper sketches the background and the extent of the challenge, the legislative and regulatory context, and the imperatives for urgent action, then focuses on the Tweelopiespruit wetlands area for a potential pilot project.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: Gold and uranium mining in the Witwatersrand gold fields has resulted in contamination and destruction of wetlands, as well as negative impacts on biodiversity and on soil, groundwater and air quality. Pollution from Witwatersrand mines poses hazards to surrounding communities. The main pathways are: the airborne pathway, where radon gas and windblown dust disperse outwards from mine site and the waterborne pathway, either via ground or surface water or due to direct access, where people are contaminated and living in settlements directly adjacent to mines or living in settlements on the contaminated footprints of abandoned mines.

SUMMARY: This study deals with sustainable energy sector transformation in South Africa. The report aims to give a high level overview of some of the key aspects that should allow the country to take progressive steps towards an improved energy sector that respects human rights and planetary boundaries. The study examines the status quo of our current energy system. This includes the key players and stakeholders, along with effects on impoverished and marginalised communities. The paper also identifies the key criteria for the transformation process and discusses the main areas of change for energy sector transformation.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The report urges that the Integrated Resource Plan and Integrated Energy Plan should be developed in an open, logical and unbiased manner. Government must also develop a dedicated policy for energy sector transformation. It recommends energy production include large, medium, and small-scale shifts to low-carbon production; the energy supply focus should be on should be on electricity: alternative access, pricing reform and Eskom restructuring; energy use must focus on efficiency and fuel switching; meaningful public participation should feature in policy making, and policy updates must ensure policy alignment; and steps must be taken to attract financing for energy sector transformation.