COBENEFITS Policy Dialogue — Country Focus South Africa — BETD 2019

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Har­ness­ing the Co-Benefits of Cli­mate Action – Enabling a Just Transition

10.April 2019, 09:00 – 10:30, Rathenau Hall
Berlin Ener­gy Tran­si­tion Dia­logue (BETD)
Ger­man Fed­er­al For­eign Office, Berlin

The glob­al tran­si­tion to renew­able sources of ener­gy is in full swing. The social and eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties pre­sent­ed by this trans­for­ma­tion are spurring the growth of renew­able ener­gy gen­er­a­tion in many coun­tries. Among many oth­er coun­tries South Africa is in the midst of an ener­gy tran­si­tion, with impor­tant social and eco­nom­ic impli­ca­tions, depend­ing on the path­ways that are cho­sen. Against this back­ground South Africa has launched a wide­ly acknowl­edged country-wide Just Tran­si­tion Dia­logue series.

Launch­ing the 2019 COBENEFITS Report Series for South Africa
The whole debate boils down to a sin­gle ques­tion: How can renew­ables improve the lives of the peo­ple in South Africa? Four new stud­ies, pub­lished by IASS Pots­dam and CSIR Ener­gy Cen­tre, con­tribute the much-needed data and fig­ures to this ques­tion. They pro­vide impor­tant guid­ance on fur­ther shap­ing South Africa’s ener­gy path­ways to max­imise the social and eco­nom­ic co-benefits of the new ener­gy world of renew­ables while facil­i­tat­ing a just transition.

Speak­ers:

  • Nor­bert Gorißen, Deputy Direc­tor Gen­er­al, Ger­man Fed­er­al Min­istry for the Envi­ron­ment, Nature Con­ser­va­tion and Nuclear Safe­ty (BMU)
  • Sebas­t­ian Hel­gen­berg­er, IASS Potsdam
  • Tas­neem Essop, Com­mis­sion­er Nation­al Plan­ning Com­mis­sion, South Africa
  • Tha­bang Audat, Chief Direc­tor Ener­gy Plan­ning, Depart­ment of Ener­gy South Africa
  • Bren­da Mar­tin, CEO South African Wind Ener­gy Asso­ci­a­tion (SAWEA)

Fur­ther Discussants:

  • Ruan Fourie, CSIR Ener­gy Cen­tre, South Africa
  • Tobias Zeller, South African-German Ener­gy Partnership