Sustainable Growth

Sustainable Growth (69)

South Africa has shown an increasing commitment to sustainable development. Along with its involvement in international negotiations, it has developed its own national framework for a shift to a green economy.

South Africa recognises sustainable development as a human right in the Bill of Rights of its 1996 Constitution and also committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which include environmental sustainability as a target. A National Framework for Sustainable Development was adopted in 2008 and, building on this, a National Strategy for Sustainable Development and Action Plan 2011 – 2014 was published as government policy on 23 November 2011. South African policies and strategic documents, such as the Industrial Policy Action Plan, the New Growth Path and the National Development Plan, have increasingly mainstreamed the importance of the green economy in the country.

The country is also a party to both the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and has made commitments under the Cancun Agreement for its greenhouse gas emissions to “peak, plateau and decline”, with reductions in emissions of 34% in 2020 and 42% in 2025.

South Africa is also party to many international conventions and agreements on biodiversity (such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance) and pollution issues (such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer).

Within this highly-interconnected context, TIPS’s Sustainable Growth pillar has maintained a triple focus on both climate change, the green economy and energy issues since its inception in 2010. In line with TIPS’s overall strategy, the Sustainable Growth focus area delivers analysis, dialogue facilitation and policy application services in these areas:

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  • Year 2024
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Seutame Maimele
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) entered its transition period on 1 October 2023, with the first CBAM report for the fourth quarter of 2023 submitted on 29 February 2024. Key industries most affected in South Africa are iron, steel and aluminium. The transition period will run for…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Ian Steuart, Karin Kritzinger
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
In the face of rising electricity costs, persistent power outages (loadshedding), and the emergence of domestic and international carbon taxes, there has never been a better time for businesses in South Africa to adopt renewable energy (RE) to realise significant savings on their electricity bills, lower their tax liability, secure…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Seutame Maimele
  • Countries and Regions Africa
The European Green Deal (EGD) is a set of policy initiatives by the European Union (EU) with the overarching aim of making Europe the first continent to reach climate neutrality by 2050. The purpose of this study is to analyse the implications of the EGD on African trade. The objectives include…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Dominic Ramos
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
This Working Paper offers an overview of how governments in the Global South are responding to the EU CBAM, in contrast to responses from developed nations. It examines the background and essential measures of CBAM in relation to the reactions of major transnational groupings and the effects of CBAM on…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Lesego Moshikaro, Lebogang Pheto (TIPS)
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
South Africa’s vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) value chain currently lies in raw material output, electrolyte production, and locally manufactured balance of plant components. However, there is potential for a more significant role to be played along the value chain. To foster the growth of a domestic VRFB industry, it…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Seutame Maimele
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
CBAM is a key policy tool that forms part of the European Green Deal (EGD) to reduce net GHG emissions across Europe and abroad. Within this context, CBAM can be defined as a carbon border tax on embedded GHG emissions of carbon-intensive products imported into the EU. The main intent…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Kiara Muthusame, Seutame Maimele
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
The United States of America (USA) is South Africa’s second largest single trade partner after China, having imported US$13 billion (about R192 billion) worth of goods in 2021. South Africa’s top five exports to the USA are platinum, motor vehicles, miscellaneous chemical products (some chemicals are used to create monomers and polymers for…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Lerato Monaisa, Gaylor Montmasson-Clair
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
Aluminium is the most used non-ferrous metal worldwide. Its multiple properties (lightweight, non-corrosive, high thermal and electrical conductivity, low density, non-toxic, non-magnetic) make it a versatile multiuse metal. Aluminium is used in various sectors, most prominently in transport, construction, consumer goods, packaging and machinery and equipment. The production of primary aluminium…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Lerato Monaisa Gaylor Montmasson-Clair (TIPS)
This working paper unpacks the impacts of a transition away from coal on affected communities in South Africa. It takes a multi-layered approach highlighting the economic, social, and environmental impacts coal has had to date and the implications of a transition on communities. Sections 2, 3 and 4 discuss the…

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation naamsa | The Automotive Business Council ; TIPS B&M Analysts
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
South Africa’s New Energy Vehicle Transitional Roadmap - Thought Leader Discussion Document: The Route to the White Paper naamsa | The Automotive Business Council has released its electric vehicles strategy, which calls for clear signals from government.  Dowload a copy of read online:  The report builds directly on work by Trade…
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