All but one of South Africa’s nine provinces, including coal-dependent Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Free State, have limited or no plans to support communities and local workers through a green transition, meaning poorer groups could be left behind, new analysis has shown.
South Africa was the first country to sign a multi-billion-dollar Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with rich countries in 2021, aimed at supporting an economy-wide transition away from coal towards clean energy in a way that supports communities and workers who now rely on the fossil fuel industry as well as women, youth and children.
That makes the country a point of reference for how to achieve a green transition that is socially and economically fair. So far it has created a national just energy transition investment plan, signed its Climate Change Act into law, and launched a just energy transition funding platform to connect grant funders with projects to help workers acquire new skills or develop communities in innovative ways.
But a new report by international research group Net Zero Tracker and South South North, a South Africa-based non-profit, said eight provinces — Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and North West — are lagging behind on just transition in their local climate plans despite coal dependence in some provinces as well as high unemployment in the others.
The analysis – which reviewed 32 government entities at national, provincial and city level, plus 18 major corporations in South Africa – highlighted significant opportunities to support poorer regions that are reliant on coal production and coal power and those least-prepared to deal with a shift away from high-carbon energy.
The rich province of Western Cape was the only one leading in climate action, with a comprehensive net zero target and extensive just transition considerations integrated into regional policies. Other regions that either have net zero or emissions reduction targets are KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Gauteng despite lagging in just transition.
Out of the 11 cities reviewed in the analysis, only the two biggest – Cape Town and Johannesburg – had robust just transition considerations. The others were found to have minimal or no just transition focus.
The researchers said there is a need for more structured plans in coal-reliant provinces especially to support workers at mines and power plants fired by the polluting fuel.
Blessing Manale, acting executive director of South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), told Climate Home “there is a disjoint between national and local policies “, despite the country’s strong climate commitments and its aim to ensure that the risks and opportunities in the transition are “equitably shared”, with affected workers able to pursue sustainable livelihoods in the future.
Samson Mbewe, the paper’s lead author from South South North, told Climate Home that “without such integration, poorer provinces risk being excluded from the socio-economic benefits of decarbonisation, exacerbating existing inequalities.”
In a 2023 Climate Home article, coal workers in Ermelo, a community in Mpumalanga, said they felt left out of the country’s energy transition. With 80% of the community’s 80,000 residents employed by state-owned energy and transport companies, residents fear their livelihoods will be gone when the Camden coal power station in the area goes offline by 2030.
Mbewe said Mpumalanga faces a significant risk of job losses and community destabilisation without robust just transition measures to help workers find new sources of income, such as retraining, social support and investment in alternative industries. “Women and informal workers in these regions are particularly vulnerable, as they often lack access to social safety nets and alternative employment opportunities,” he said.
Local governments struggling
Manale of the Presidential Climate Commission said climate action in South Africa is “stymied by governance, resource and capacity issues” that impact the state in general. But, he added, local government authorities face the biggest challenges in implementing effective climate policies, including “capacity constraints, corruption and structural failures, variable political-will and mixed messaging”, as set out in a report by his body on the state of climate action.
There is a need to bolster political will across government tiers, as well as “aligning local initiatives with national directives” to improve climate responses, he added. Stronger monitoring, evaluation and learning processes could help track the effectiveness of policy implementation and its contribution to achieving climate and just transition goals, he suggested.
He called for investment in, and commitment to, a just transition – including at the local level – to ensure that South Africa’s decarbonisation and adaptation goals are met.
“Local governments must appreciate the circumstances of people who are most vulnerable to climate change and ensure that their needs and aspirations are factored into decision-making guided by the principles of equity and redress and sustainability,” Manale said.
Operating coal mines, with bigger circles meaning bigger mines (Screenshot/Global Energy Monitor)
The new report also found that the climate plans of some global brands – including Apple, Amazon and Google as well as some automakers – in South Africa show limited engagement with just transition commitments, especially with having specific plans to support communities and vulnerable groups.
Mbewe said the three tech giants did not reference just transition principles in their Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks and “their strategies lack plans for supporting local communities”. These multinationals “often overlook the critical role they play in fostering equitable transitions within host countries”, he added.
The oversight may be because multinationals headquartered in developed countries tend to follow their parent-company climate policies without adapting them for the different regions they work in or taking into account “key considerations” such as tackling poverty or advancing sustainable development in a way that reduces inequality in the Global South, Mbewe said.
Camilla Hyslop, data lead at Net Zero Tracker, said the fact that corporate plans “lack detail on how they will work on the ground here in South Africa” sometimes results in companies entirely overlooking the need for a low-carbon transition – “just or otherwise”.
Brazil appoints veteran climate diplomat André Corrêa do Lago as COP30 president
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan disagreed with the analysis in the report, telling Climate Home the e-commerce company is engaging in just transition work across South Africa. Ongoing projects include community water replenishment, an Amazon Web Services Skills Center in the country, and financial support for South African companies via a “Climate Gender Equity Fund” launched in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“This report omits these projects and is not an accurate depiction of our work in the region,” Callahan added.
Apple and Google did not respond to a request for comment.
Manale of the PCC said some companies may be neglecting just transition in their plans because “at present South Africa does not have any mandatory ESG standards, nor are there regulations”. However, a sustainability disclosures module was introduced in 2024 that allows companies to “voluntarily” report sustainability data according to international standards, he noted.
Mbewe called for better coordination to ensure that foreign firms align with South African climate policies, as well as a stronger focus on multinationals’ just transition principles requiring them to consult more broadly and disclose their resulting strategies and commitments.
(Reporting by Vivian Chime; editing by Megan Rowling)
The post Coal-reliant South African provinces falling behind on just transition appeared first on Climate Home News.
Coal-reliant South African provinces falling behind on just transition
SYDNEY, Thursday 30 October 2026 — In response to reports that the Albanese government is set to introduce draft legislation this year that would seek to ban data centres in Australia’s suburbs, Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:
“These reports are a testament to the growing community opposition to these completely inappropriate AI factories that have sprung up across our suburbs, and Big Tech corporations should take heed — the data centre build-out must not happen without the endorsement of the Australian people.
“But the government can’t simply ship this problem out to regional Australia without addressing the fundamental issues with this extractive new industry.
“We’re already seeing a trend of AI data centre proposals moving to the regions, in areas that are more water-scarce, more environmentally sensitive, and next to sources of fracked and coal seam gas to support their massive BYO gas-fired power plans — a pattern we’ve seen play out in the United States.
“From the Beetaloo Basin in the NT to the Western Downs in Qld, we’re seeing a wave of AI data centre proposals that would see new gas fast-tracked to support their massive energy demand, and threaten to completely derail Australia’s energy transition.
“Just as suburban Australians are asking, “what for?”, regional communities like Berry Springs and Dalby do not want dirty data centres setting up shop with absolutely no benefit to their communities. Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on AI data centre developments until strict and enforceable safeguards are in place to protect our climate and our communities.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
AI data centre ban in suburbs would not address fundamental issues: Greenpeace
In the thick of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in 2024, the UN climate talks were rattled by what can only be described as a major PR disaster. The BBC, Reuters and The Guardian all carried headlines, attributed to leading climate policy experts, that the COPs were “no longer fit for purpose”.
The articles outlined a series of reforms called for in an open letter signed by 22 eminent scientists and politicians, including a former UN secretary-general and previous UN climate chief, with a further 150 lending their support. The headlines shook confidence in the COP process, just as governments were wrestling over a new climate finance goal.
The Club of Rome – which handled the media relations for the letter – hurried to say that its “constructive, supportive ideas” had been “misinterpreted”. Negotiators kept calm(ish) and carried on, in the end landing the finance goal after some high-stakes drama on the final day.
-
Early speakers’ list suggests few powerful leaders will attend COP31
Just 77 heads of state or government are scheduled to address the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, a third less than the COP28 peak -
Africa wants adaptation finance on COP31 agenda, raising risk of a fight
The African Group wants dedicated space on tripling adaptation finance, the Green Climate Fund and trade, setting up a possible clash
To my surprise, when I went back this week to read the letter again, I could not find the offending line about the COPs not being fit for purpose. The Club of Rome has yet to respond to my query about its disappearance.
Whatever happened to the wording, that sentiment has been widely shared. COPs have ballooned in size while the importance of their outcomes seems to have diminished since the 2015 Paris Agreement (with the exception of the 2023 COP in Dubai where countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems).
The same on the surface
Two years on from those painful headlines in Baku, has anything changed for the better? You might be forgiven for thinking not. Official decisions are still made by consensus rather than the majority voting some have called for to stop blockers.
Tens of thousands of officials, activists and business execs still scurry around the halls to an ever-growing list of side events, roundtables and dialogues, while deals still come down to rows, all-nighters and jargon-filled texts adopted to rounds of applause.
But it would not be true to say that COPs have completely failed to respond to the very real need to translate the words of the Paris Agreement into action in the outside world.
Global warming is projected to be around 1.3C lower this century than it would have been if the world had not committed to tackle the climate crisis under that accord. Developing countries have a valued space at COPs in which their voices have equal weight in decision-making, unlike in many other international fora. And most importantly, perhaps, there has been a subtle shift, tipping the balance away from negotiating towards doing.
Brazil branded last year’s summit in Belém as the “COP of Implementation”, corralling the sprawling Action Agenda into six axes. This was a bid to impose some structure on the mushrooming efforts between governments, UN agencies, cities, businesses and civil society to set targets and spur faster results on their pet issues, from methane emissions to health and adaptation in conflict zones. COP30 alone saw the launch of 120 “plans to accelerate solutions”.
COP30 roadmaps off the cuff
Meanwhile, as the formal negotiations drew to a close, it was clear that consensus decision-making was evolving into something a little more improvised.
With only around half of all countries on board with the idea of a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago announced his team would put one together over the coming year, along with another on how to meet a global goal to halt deforestation by 2030. Those roadmaps will be launched next week, presented and discussed at COP31, though it’s still unclear whether or how they’ll be incorporated into the formal negotiating agenda.
Some leading policy-makers don’t think that matters too much. Speaking to journalists before the Antalya summit, COP30 CEO Ana Toni and Dutch climate minister Stientje van Veldhoven said “coalitions of the willing” can move ahead without needing consensus from the COPs. This, they said, was evident this year at the first global conference on TAFF, co-chaired by van Veldhoven and attended by 60 countries.
“Consensus or no-consensus in the general COP doesn’t make a difference for the choices I have to make in my country to get my country to phase out fossil fuels,” said the Dutch minister. The Netherlands recently became one of the first to publish a national TAFF plan.
COP31 banks on flagship voluntary initiatives
This thinking has permeated the management and expected outcomes of this year’s COP too. Earlier this year, Türkiye, supported by international energy agencies, floated the idea of a voluntary goal to boost electrification to 35% of the world’s final energy consumption by 2035 – and this is now being touted as one of the main results to be expected from Antalya.
Türkiye is also championing a pledge on AI and climate, while co-host Australia is pushing to ease access to climate finance for least developed countries and small island states.
COP31 presidency announces AI pledge as UN climate chief says Big Tech ‘on thin ice’
None of these needs consensus. But with a political cover decision already in the works, as trailed by the COP presidents, they – and perhaps the fossil fuel roadmap – may find a home in the official text if language acceptable to most can be found, giving them them additional weight.
UNFCCC reform process in the shadows
Formal reform is underway too, if quietly. UN climate chief Simon Stiell is leading a review informed by ongoing consultations with a group of 15 well-respected climate policy experts, three of whom signed the open letter in 2024.
Among them is leading Swedish climate and sustainability scientist Johan Rockström who has strong ideas about how to make COPs function better, including a switch to majority voting. He told the same press briefing nothing stands in the way of this, because the rules of procedure for making decisions at COPs have never been formally agreed.
Still, to get away from the default setting of consensus would require agreement on a new system that may be impossible to achieve given the rise in bullying tactics by fossil fuel heavyweights.
Comment: The UN climate process was built for negotiation – now it must support implementation
The deliberations with the high-level policy gurus, as reflected in a summary of June’s session in Bonn, largely echo what’s already happening organically, calling for stronger partnerships and accountability both in and between the Action Agenda and negotiations. It doesn’t mention voting.
A general overview of the reform exercise says that “improving and optimizing the [UN climate] process over the medium to long term… will be critical to fostering trust, enhancing collaboration, and catalyzing increased ambition”.
In the short term, don’t hold your breath for anything concrete on reform at COP31 but watch for signs in what ends up dominating the headlines from Türkiye.
The post Editor’s Desk: COP reform is happening quietly, behind the headlines appeared first on Climate Home News.
Editor’s Desk: COP reform is happening quietly, behind the headlines
With the COP31 climate summit in Turkey looming, all eyes are on China to see what the country will push for in the negotiations.
At COP30 last year, China helped to secure a “dialogue” on climate-related “unilateral trade measures”, as well as a two-year “work programme” concerning climate finance.
The nation also championed south-south cooperation throughout the conference and co-led a summit on methane, alongside Brazil and the UK.
In a recent press conference, China’s environment vice-minister Li Gao noted the need to “uphold multilateralism” and send a “clear political signal” that the global community is united around climate action.