GREG NOTT, TINA COSTAS AND JAMES ROSS: A justice-based implementation plan for SA

December 4 was Finance Day at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change on the 28th occasion of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai.

Various finance-related events took place, including the “Contributor Dialogue” where governments expressed their support for the Adaptation Fund and announced new pledges towards the $300m mobilisation target.

Also discussed was the scaling up of financing for adaptation, including doubling adaptation finance. New pledges and contributions to the Adaptation Fund will help finance the fund’s growing pipeline of project proposals worth nearly $500m.

It was an exciting day for SA as environment, forestry and fisheries minister Barbara Creecy discussed the country’s Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan (JET IP). The plan will require initial funding of R1.5-trillion for the period 2023-2027. 

The JET IP is premised on the National Development Plan 2030, and priority sectors for investment include electricity, new energy vehicles and green hydrogen. The governments of France, Germany, UK, US and the EU (known collectively as the International Partners Group), have committed $8.5bn to the overall R1.5-trillion.

The approval of the implementation plan by cabinet is another milestone in SA’s just energy transition, the country’s commitment to decarbonise the economy based on suitable financial support being provided by the developed countries, in line with SA’s nationally determined contribution to the global effort, compatible with the Paris Accord.   

The JET will be managed at a pace, scale and cost that is consistent with SA’s socioeconomic development path, needs and affordability — the transition needs to be considered in light of SA’s high unemployment, poverty and energy insecurity. Though SA has contributed less than 2% to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, the country will be one of those worst affected by climate change. In the presentation by the SA government the term “intergenerational injustice” was used. 

The JET IP sets out a long-term and well managed transition to a low carbon economy at a pace and scale that is appropriate to the nation’s circumstances and developmental needs and is based on the concept of justice. The minister said the JET IP is concretised by an investment plan and on the outcomes of consultative process run by the Presidential Climate Commission, which took place with stakeholders during the first quarter of 2023.

Creecy added that the SA government had developed the implementation plan for the country’s JET, which entailed investment in electricity infrastructure, new energy vehicles, green hydrogen, skills development and interventions directed at the most affected communities.

Reducing poverty, inequality and unemployment

The JET IP is structured to support not only decarbonisation but also the country’s foremost task of reducing poverty, inequality and unemployment. It proposes a set of institutional structures and mechanisms that will allow for cocreation, and in taking it forward we will move from consultation to participation, and cocreation. Inherent in the plan is an optimism that the climate crisis not only poses challenges but also opportunities for shared prosperity. 

The aim of the plan is also to bring financial transparency into the climate finance space through a grants register and a funding platform to match available funds to projects and provide accountability. It commits SA to support the development of capacity at community and worker level, to build the projects and initiatives that will ensure the benefits of the JET are felt by those most affected, and it will direct resources and funding to the infrastructure and initiatives that would have the most impact and have the greatest spread of benefit. 

Finally, the plan will maximise the opportunities for economic growth through diversification and green industrialisation, and through that ensure the JET is one that has a demonstrable positive effect on our country.

• Nott is director and head of Africa, Costas director and head of environment & sustainability, and Ross a senior associate, at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.