With the world cup coming up South Africa has been trying to clean up their image and lately have been giving strong signals that they are ready to join the low carbon economy. It may be cynical of me but I believe the move has less to do with the country’s lack of sustainable energy and more to do with international pressures and trends relating to climate change. Sure there will be plenty of ‘green job’ possibilities to exploit but the switch is arguably a policy attempt at making virtue of necessity.
That said the release of the second version of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap2) from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) means South Africa has taken the “first serious steps towards the systematic promotion of green and energy efficient goods and services.” The action plan (Ipap2) outlines the direction in which the department wishes to push South Africa’s industrial capabilities.
Naledi Pandor, the Science and Technology Minister is involved in finalising a green economy plan which he will present to the South African Cabinet by July 2010.
“Green jobs will grow both directly and indirectly in the transport, energy, building, manufacturing, agriculture and forestry sectors. There will be employment in the manufacture, installation and operation of clean energy for people like wind turbine engineers, insulation installers, recycling sorters and photovoltaic cell salespeople,” says Pandor.
“Indirectly, there will be jobs in the greener-goods supply chain – from solar cell manufacturers to green building-materials retailers to wind farm maintenance firms to recycling haulers to energy auditors. And, most importantly, there will be battery manufacturers with distribution centres at home and on the road,” she adds.
Other projects already under government funding are the support of clean energy research at universities, investment in an electric car and the launch of an ebike prototype. Duane Newman a tax director from Deloitte expects that the government grants will give businesses the incentive to move towards a low carbon economy.
“It’s a good start,” says Mainstream Renewable Power South Africa director Davin Chown of the green focus of Ipap2, “but we need something really bold and progressive, given the resource base we have”.
During 2007-2008 the international market value of the low carbon green sector was estimated at roughly $5 trillion. In the light of climate change imperatives it is highly likely that this figure will increase dramatically.
“Increasing concerns [about] carbon emissions and climate change will have a profound impact on our economic landscape, introducing both threats and opportunities,” cautions the department.
All this has produced the emergence of ‘eco-protectionism’, which was touched on by the DTI and comes from industrial countries in the form of tariff and non tariff measures such as restrictive standards and carbon taxes.
“The general sentiment is positive,” says World Wide Fund for Nature living planet unit head Saliem Fakir of the green points of Ipap2. “However, the proof of the pudding is in the detail of how this will unfold. The industrial leg is very dependent on the demand, or push factors, that are driven through the energy complex,” he adds.
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April 8th, 2010 at 2:05 PM
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