SUMMARY: The report puts forward the case for a new Eskom and discusses the damaging misconceptions in the current discourse on energy transition in South Africa, the problems associated with the Eskom debt crisis, the challenges associated with the transition towards renewable energy, and the Independent Power Producer system and its contribution towards Eskom’s death spiral. The report aims to open the door to a fresh assessment of South Africa’s energy crisis and the longer-term challenges of transition.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The report recommends a forensic audit of Eskom’s debt, repudiating odious debt, investing funds from government institutions like the UIF and GEPF in Eskom and halting any plans to unbundle Eskom; moving towards a socially owned renewable energy sector of which Eskom is a driving part, building global cooperation around renewable energy technologies, ending the REI4P programme and focusing instead on building/rebuilding skills, competencies and technologies for the rollout of renewable energy; and basing governance on using public financing to build a public system and a future Eskom according to key public ethos principles, not subsidising a for-profit system.

SUMMARY: The report calls a post-Covid Just Recovery plan, which ensures that economic systems are people centred and take into account the intersecting factors that cause inequalities and large-scale ecological damage. The paper outlines how we got to the current climate crisis through the emphasis on market fundamentalism, prioritisation of profits and financialisation, privatisation and the hollowing out of the commons, globalisation, extensive corporate and labour deregulation, over-reliance on fossil fuels, privatisation of social reproduction and care work and how we measure human development and economic growth..

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The report proposes rebuilding public services to promote public affluence by public investment; complementing the green economy with the ecofeminist purple economy through investments in social infrastructure; transitioning to a low-carbon energy system and integrating this into this new economy; pursuing structural transformation not structural reforms; changing ownership structures throughout the economy to reconfigure power relations by ensuring community ownership or worker control; and building a new internationalism which reconfigures global inequalities that threaten the economic, social and political environments of the global South.

SUMMARY: The research looks at the economic costs of transition from coal. The authors use secondary data and conduct surveys on coal companies to calculate costs related to the transition over a period of 20 years.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The paper estimates the cost of coal worker protection over 20 years in two scenarios. In scenario 1, an 82% attrition rate is calculated, with 6 600 coal workers needing retraining and re-employment over 20 years. In the second scenario, about 75% of electricity will be decommissioned by 2043 and 32 920 (1 646 per year) workers will need retraining. The estimated cost of a Just Transition for coal workers over 20 years is R6 billion: salaried compensation costs up to R1.2 billion, retraining at R621 million, relocation costs of R100 million, and regional development and rehabilitation costs of R4 billion.

SUMMARY: This book analyses South Africa's low-carbon transition debate and process. Theoretical insights, including new models and concepts, and praxis through illustrations from South Africa’s growing landscape of sustainable development policies and programmes, are summarised. It assesses whether these transition pathways are beginning to reconfigure the system-level structures hindering the country’s goal of “ensuring environmental sustainability and an equitable transition to a low-carbon economy”. The book raises the question of whether South Africa’s policy and programme interventions sufficiently incorporate justice and inclusivity.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: Sustainability transitions offer new ways of shifting South Africa’s resource-intensive economy towards low-carbon pathways linked to the country’s transformative development agenda. The book calls for inclusive approaches to greening the South African economy, catering for the most vulnerable in society and ensuring the benefits of sustainability innovations reach all South Africans.

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SUMMARY: The case study explores the key elements of Just Transitions in South Africa and draws lessons on how Climate Investment Fund (CIF) investments affected Just Transitions. The study explores the diverse perspectives and approaches of the key actors involved in South Africa’s Just Transitions. It reflects on the CIF’s contributions to the energy transitions in South Africa and highlights the importance of considering both the distributional effects of climate action and recognising marginalized groups by including them in discussions and decision-making processes. The report also examines the role that CIF and Multilateral Development Banks MDBs can play and identifies in supporting Just Transitions in South Africa.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: Recommendations include, et al: •Transparent and participatory socio-economic modelling; •Cross-sectoral dialogues, social inclusion and participation; •Concessional finance, critical at the early stages of innovation for de-risking initial investments; •Skills development; •Adopting a regional focus that supports repurposing and rehabilitating coal mines, economic diversification, and investments in built and ecological infrastructure.

SUMMARY: Geologist and academic, Arjan Dijkstra discusses the raw materials that we need for wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars and how these materials are impacting the energy transition. He emphasises the need for a circular economy to secure the supply of critical raw materials for future generations.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: Dijkstra recommends that countries and consumers look at their electronic devices in a new light and that investments in recycling of e-waste need to be strengthened to access those raw materials needed for the energy transition.

SUMMARY: This details Sasol’s work programme to address the company’s climate change risks and incorporates Sasol's updated strategy and emissions reduction roadmap to 2030. It is aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The report sets out a roadmap for achieving Sasol’s 2030 target. The target, set in 2019, is to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its South African operations by at least 10%, off its 2017 baseline. The company is in the process of defining a 2050 reduction ambition and roadmap. The roadmap outlines Sasol’s plan for emission reductions to be achieved via energy and process efficiency, the introduction of renewable energy, asset disposals, and the replacement of coal with natural gas as a feedstock for the liquid fuel business.

SUMMARY: The framework spells out a social compact between government, business, labour and community, in which each constituency has identified steps to be taken and through which all contribute to resolving the energy crisis, promote labour stability in Eskom to ensure an efficient, reliable and affordable supply of electricity and address the concerns of workers, including the stabilisation of Eskom to support job maximisation across the South African economy, while enabling inclusive economic growth.

KEY FINDING / RECOMMENDATIONS: The social compact identifies a long list of short-, medium- and long-term interventions. Short-term interventions pertain to: managing current load shedding / electricity shortages; procurement of additional electricity generation capacity; managing tariffs; debt recovery and illegal connections; clean governance and management; tackling corruption; and Eskom’s operating model. Medium-term interventions target: Eskom’s financial viability; and impact investment. Long-term interventions deal with: Just Transition package; long-term security of supply; and the regulator.

Presentations Neva Makgetla  - Senior Economist, TIPS Presentation: The pandemic and the economy in southern Africa Klaus Schade - Independent Economic Analyst in Namibia Presentation: The economic impact of Covid-19 on  SADC: The Namibian experience Gibson Chigumira - Executive Director, Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit (ZEPARU) Presentation: Synopsis of COVID-19…

As the reality of a coal transition and coal power decommissioning draw nearer, South Africa’s just transition plan is both urgent and glaringly absent. There is a pressing need to manage the impacts of the transition on workers and local economic development, particularly in coal-dependent regions and affected communities. A credible…

The African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (Aporde) and the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development (SARChI Industrial Development) are delighted to announce the inaugural Thandika Mkandawire Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in African Political Economy and Economic Development. This prize is to be awarded annually to recognise outstanding research…

This handbook by Faizel Ismail is intended to provide negotiators, policymakers and other stakeholders with an overview of the theory and implementation of the AfCFTA and regional integration in Africa, and to raise questions that could facilitate discussion and dialogue by stakeholders at the country, Regional Economic Community and African Union levels. Download a copy. 

The purpose of these Terms of Reference is to develop a forest product roadmap with a specific focus on: Addressing the use of timber and engineered timber products in the built environment; Identifying and promoting the development of short- and long-term efficient bio-refineries technology innovation opportunities to drive forestry sector…

The Import Localisation and Supply Chain Disruption study is a quarterly report that seeks to identify goods from the list of imports identified in the Import Tracker report that South Africa could possibly viably manufacture. Each quarter focuses on five manufactured items from the list of imports in the corresponding quarter's Import Tracker report. The five products in this report are: Product 1: Semi-milled or wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or glazedProduct 2: Parts for boring or sinking machineryProduct 3: Medical instruments and appliancesProduct 4: Parts and accessories of printers, copying machines and facsimile machinesProduct 5: Oilcake and…

South Africa’s robust third quarter recovery in merchandise exports continued in the fourth quarter of 2020, growing at an even faster pace by 16.6% (quarter-on-quarter), amounting to R412 billion. The decline in imports moderated to -6.3%, amounting to R307 billion, in constant rand terms compared to the -19.6% decline in…

This FDI Tracker presents an analysis of foreign investment projects captured in Q3 and Q4 of 2020. It covers two quarters due to low investment activity in Q3 2020 combined with general delays in the release of company and aggregated data, such as those which inform the investment environment analysis.…

  This webinar by TIPS and the National Labour and Economic Institute (NALEDI), supported by groundwork, is part of a larger project funded by UK PACT that intends to facilitate the co-development of a coherent just transition plan for affected communities in Mpumalanga, with a particular focus on Emalahleni…

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Developmental Regionalism: A Handbook By Faizel Ismail This handbook is intended to provide negotiators, policymakers and other stakeholders with an overview of the theory and implementation of the AfCFTA and regional integration in Africa, and to raise questions that could facilitate discussion and…

This working paper provides insights into the current debates on export restrictions in the World Trade Organization agriculture negotiations. An overview of the previous discussions on export restrictions is presented in an effort to draw similarities between the previous discussions and the current discussions. The paper also offers some observations…

Presentations Thobile Mawelela -  TIPS economist Presentation: Small businesses and the post Covid-19 recovery data and trends Gabriel Davel - CEO for the Centre for Credit Market Development; previously CEO of the National Credit Regulator Presentation: Impact of the Covid-19 on credit flows Dave Wilson (CEO National Mentorship Movement) and…