South Africa is set to launch the Just Energy Transition Funding Platform as the world battles to push back and minimise the effects of climate change.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told the Climate Resillience Symposium in Pretoria on Monday that funding platform will be an important precursor to a broader Just Transition Financing Mechanism.
Ramaphosa further noted that the Presidential Climate Commission is developing proposals for the programme. The symposium is hosted by National Treasury, World Bank, Presidential Climate Commission and under the theme: Moving the needle on climate change and Just Transition: the role of the National Treasury. The gathering has brought together various role players including ministers, senior government officials, academia, the private sector, and climate experts.
According to the SA government, the symposium aims to “integrate climate goals into macro-fiscal and finance policy; improve government coordination by mainstreaming climate change considerations into the intergovernmental fiscal system; profile the National Treasury’s contribution to climate action; and advance and promote policy, advocacy, green growth, and collaboration in addressing climate change challenges across sectors.”
“We need to use blended finance to unlock private sector flows. International development finance institutions and governments of the Global North that made financial pledges under the Paris Agreement and COP26 are important sources of cheap and concessional capital.
“To access this and other funding, we need a credible project pipeline. We need to work with all spheres of government, with communities and with the business sector to create new manufacturing, mining, agriculture and service opportunities,” Ramaphosa said at the opening of the symposium.
“The science of climate change is complex. So too are the economic, technological, social, ecological and political implications. Nonetheless, climate action is an imperative. We must act now,” he said.
Ramaphosa further noted that the storms that hit parts of the Western Cape over the past week causing devastation to homes, communities, businesses and infrastructure and interrupted business are an “illustration of the fact that climate change is as much an economic issue as it is a scientific, social justice, human rights and development issue.”
“Disruptions caused by climate change increase the cost of doing business, undermine competitiveness and dampen employment growth. These disruptions result in lower tax revenue and increased expenditure on disaster relief, health care and social support for affected communities,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the symposium “will focus on the integration of climate goals into macro-fiscal and finance policy and mainstreaming climate change considerations into the intergovernmental fiscal system.
“It is society’s most vulnerable who bear the brunt of climate change because they have limited means to prepare for, cope with, and recover from, climate-related adverse events,” he said.
“We are hard at work implementing the urgent reforms needed to lift growth and pursuing a fiscal strategy that protects the sustainability of our public finances.”
South Africa has committed to a fixed target for greenhouse gas emissions levels of 398-510 MtCO2e by 2025, and 350-420 MtCO2e by 2030, compared to 398 and 614 Mt CO2e between 2025 and 2030 as communicated in the first NDC.
In its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) South Africa has also set the goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050 in its Low-Emission Development Strategy and aims to access significantly higher levels of climate finance during the periods of implementation of the NDC, to achieve a floor of USD 8 billion per year by 2030.
“I have repeatedly said that South Africa will decarbonise at a pace and scale that is affordable to our economy and society. If we act too fast, we risk damaging huge sections of our economy before we have built alternative energy and industrial capabilities. At the same time, not acting now risks our economic stability. We must embrace a managed transition to a low-carbon economy, not only to safeguard our people and our environment but to ensure our economic resilience and growth. We are facing a climate emergency,” Ramaphosa said.
