South Africa’s energy transition passed significant milestones at the last two COPs (Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC). Over the last two years, a framework for a just transition was developed and adopted by government, considering the inclusion of groups left behind by the energy industry. Women in particular face numerous challenges in the energy sector: while they fail to profit from energy production, they are also deeply afflicted by the existential issues linked to coal-based energy production. Tunicia Phillips and Leona Schmitt take a closer look at South Africa’s just transition plans and how they seek to include women in the process. Read More
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It’s the Women, stupid!
When writing about the energy transition, one generally forgets that it’s not always about hard facts and debating the best policy solution that reaches a desired outcome, but that it’s the people who make the transition – the people who make the story. Rececca Bertram tells such a story of three indigenous women from remote areas in Costa Rica who push for an energy transition thereby increasing the quality of life in their entire respective communities.
SA’s coronavirus recovery plan should consider value of women’s ‘invisible’ work
The South African government still needs to drawing up a just transition plan that will support workers who are likely to lose their jobs as the country moves its economy away from dependence on carbon-emitting production, such as mining and downstream industries. But the coronavirus lockdown has shown the invisible contribution that women’s labour makes to the economy. Could the country’s coronavirus stimulus package be a chance to add women’s work into the country’s ledger books? Leonie Joubert takes a closer look.