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4 December 2024
South Africa’s just transition: The crucial role of local governments
An inclusive just transition that truly leaves no one behind requires a strategy built on strong stakeholder engagement. South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) plays a key role in guiding South Africa’s just transition, and with its social partners, enabling the necessary stakeholder engagement for such.
During 2024, ICLEI Africa authored a report, commissioned by the PCC1, entitled: ‘Stakeholder perspectives on engaging with South Africa’s Just Transition’. The report assessed how social partners understand and interpret the just transition, and how the PCC and partners can strengthen stakeholder engagement in ways that build trust and social consensus.
In August 2024, ICLEI Africa participated in the inaugural Just Energy Transition Municipal Conference, which explored several themes, such as the readiness of municipalities to participate in the just energy transition in terms of capabilities, the state of municipal finances and availability of bankable municipal projects. Other hot topics at the conference were:
- how municipal electricity distribution is the foundation and enabler for local just energy transitions,
- how to deal with municipalities’ debt to ensure they can play leading roles in the just energy transition, and
- Treasury-led amendments to regulations such as the Public Private Partnership Regulations, and the Local Government Fiscal Framework, both of which will have implications for municipalities’ roles in the just energy transition.
A key outcome of the conference was the establishment of a Just Energy Transition Municipal Forum, with three workstreams on municipal capability development, finance structuring, and energy access. This Forum and its workstreams will be at the heart of taking forward the work on municipal just energy transitions, and implementing the municipal aspects of the Just Energy Transition Investment and Implementation Plans. ICLEI Africa looks forward to continuing its work with municipalities and partners across the country, providing support across all three workstreams.
Also in 2024, ICLEI Africa wrapped up a multi-year project in partnership with Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (STLM). Despite being located in the heart of South Africa’s coal belt, STLM is showing global leadership in charting its just transition journey, with the inclusion of a dedicated just transition chapter in its core planning document, its Integrated Development Plan (IDP), and via the development of a Roadmap detailing how the municipality is enabling its just transition. This includes the development of a pipeline of just transition projects that are being updated and revised over time. STLM also hosted a high level roundtable, which saw in depth conversations on the specifics of how South African municipalities, like STLM, can unlock finance for just transition projects and development.
As articulated during COP29, ICLEI Africa looks forward to working with all social partners in South Africa and beyond, to enable the just transition at the local level, where it is needed most.
The report entitled: ‘Stakeholder perspectives on engaging with South Africa’s Just Transition’ was produced thanks to generous support from the European Union Climate Dialogues Project (EUCDs), and funded by the European Union. The project partners are EUCD, EU, ICLEI Africa, and the PCC.
The project “Supporting a just transition to a low-carbon and resilient economy in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality” is funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group. Project partners include the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality and the Mpumalanga Province Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs
