In November last year, President Ramaphosa unveiled South Africa’s 5-year Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) and requested the Commission to consult stakeholders on the plan and provide feedback on their views. In addition, the President also requested the PCC to critically appraise the JET-IP and produce its own recommendations.
The PCC has subsequently conducted consultations on the JET-IP with stakeholders, including with youth, business, civil society, local government, organised labour, and the faith community including community consultations in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Northern Cape provinces, concluding with a national multi-stakeholder colloquium.
“Our recommendations once more call upon the need of a ‘transition-capable’ developmental state to navigate the complexities of transition and further underscored the urgency of capacity building at local government level, including funding to support electricity supply investments and mandates, and integrated development planning and budgeting processes” said Dr Crispian Olver, Executive Director of the PCC.
The PCC further calls for governance and oversight mechanisms for all transition funding and climate finance to oversee and track international commitments and an impact response investment plan through the development of an adaptation and resilience investment plan focusing on issues such as water & food security, agriculture, and tourism amongst others.
We concur with many stakeholder views on the need to remain prudent on the scale of the country’s foreign and domestic debt, the call for increases in grant and concessional finance; scaling up sustainable social ownership in renewable energy; and a coordinated industrial and financing policy” said Dr Olver.
The commission acknowledges the valid concerns by stakeholders and committed to hold all partners accountable in addressing such in the process of implementation, including conduction further work in areas such as the overall quantification of just transition funding and the integration with National Treasury budget process, and the development of government led industrial policy in emerging areas such as green hydrogen and electric vehicles.
The commission welcomes government’s reaffirmation that our future energy mix will be aligned with the Just Transition Framework and geared at sustaining investments including those prioritised under in the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan and confirms the PCC’s support for the implementation of the plan, while dealing with the legitimate issues raised in both reports as submitted to the President.
Issued by Presidential Climate Commission.