Greenshoots of a green economy show promise of a new life in SA

From the rural Northern Cape

to the corporate office parks of Johannesburg, a new, green

economy is being forged

Global climate crisis: inevitable, unprecedented and irreversible.”

“Code red for humanity.”

“A hotter future is certain, climate panel warns. But how hot is up to us.”

These are just some of the stinging headlines from some of the world’s largest newspapers, as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report landed, on 9 August 2021. The report warned that humans have taken too long to respond to climate change, and that it is now an inevitability. But the world can still avoid the gravest consequences of global warming — if we act now.

For South Africa, climate change is as much an economic question as it is an environmental, or existential one. How does the country decarbonise, and create jobs at the same time? How can we grow our economy while creating a cleaner environment? All over the country new ideas are brimming, and the shoots of a green economy are starting to emerge. It’s as much a question of partnership as it is a question of ideas. Many corporate citizens are taking up the challenge.

Nedbank now offers sustainable financing solutions to its clients, incentivising sustainable development with hard benefits such as better interest rates. The bank is the country’s leading financier of renewable energy, and has ploughed millions of rands into over 3 500MW of renewable energy in the last decade.

Nedbank has also decided not to fund any new coal or oil exploration projects in the future, and it will start closing its taps to more fossil fuel-related projects in the future.

Nedbank isn’t the only company that invested in renewables early on. Mainstream SA, a leading builder of wind and solar farms in South Africa, has added over 800MW to the grid through renewable energy projects. While many renewable companies took their money elsewhere when the country’s renewable energy project stalled five years ago, Mainstream SA stayed, firmly believing there was a future for renewables here. And they were right.

Mainstream Asset Management SA manages these renewable projects in a way that uplifts the rural communities around its wind farms. It’s about working with communities and the government to ensure that renewable energy brings about community development.

A key consideration for policymakers is what a circular economy looks like for South Africa. This is an economy that eliminates waste by using and reusing resources when their life cycles have ended. It is something that Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, says will be essential for the future of the country.

As Professor Harro von Blottnitz from the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment explains, it is ultimately about our relationship with nature.

“The first time you hear ‘circular economy’ you think of end-of-life and recycling. But the circular economy is all about the front-of-life and what we take from nature. And when we take from nature, we must take it with the intent to use it wisely and don’t take too much, because that damages nature and undermines what the environment does for us, and of course, also takes from the future generations’ opportunity to take from nature.”

Tackling waste and pollution are key components of such an economy. South Africa’s plastics industry is under pressure to make sure that packaging is recyclable. Carbon taxes are also a key component in incentivising industry and individuals alike to burn fewer fossil fuels. Experts are actively ironing out these legalities to lessen the greenhouse effect of our carbon-intensive world.

Carbon credits will be a key feature of a green economy. Already, carbon credits can be earned from landfill gas extraction. Public-private partnerships will be critical if the country is to decarbonise quickly enough, as well as partnerships with the informal sector, such as Johannesburg’s waste pickers.

Renewable energy sources also go further than providing clean energy: renewables are being linked to food security across Africa too.

And, of course, the transition to a green economy must include women. South Africa has numerous women scientists at the forefront of climate and energy research. Their voices will be an essential part of our green economy.

From wind farms in the rural hinterlands of the Northern Cape, to the glittering offices of the country’s corporate headquarters in Johannesburg, the green economy is taking shape.