South Africa is ranked as the second most inequitable country in the world. South Africa’s vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated by the economic inequality, poverty, and our current dependency on coal-fired power generation. The ability to adapt to climate change may be characterised by the same inequalities that have become the fault lines of...
In South Africa, there are several places at particular risk of abrupt disruption to biodiversity in a high-emissions scenario. The coast from Cape Agulhas to Mozambique, inland areas on the western side of the Western Cape Province up to the Namibian border, the entire Northern Cape Province, and parts of the Free State are all...
South Africa is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 given its levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality, and vulnerable employment, as well as the prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis. An R500 billion economic and social support package was announced by the President as the government’s response to stimulate economic recovery hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bulk of...
The South African electricity supply industry remains dominated by the state-owned and vertically integrated utility, Eskom. Coal is the major driver of the energy sector in the country. Although coal is the utility’s primary energy source in South Africa, the use of renewable sources for electricity generation has increased in the last few years. As...
Earlier in the month of November 2019, the Constitutional Court refused a mining company’s final challenge of a 2018 High Court decision to set aside Ministerial approvals for a proposed coal mine in South Africa. The Constitutional Court had the final say on the approvals for a coal mine inside an Mpumalanga Protected Area and...
