South Africa\u2019s main coal-producing province of Mpumalanga, the focus of the country\u2019s $8.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership, has received no government funding to help workers and communities find alternative livelihoods, a new study shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The province, which accounts for 83% of national coal production, will lose 48,500 jobs at power plants and the mines that feed them by 2030 due to closures, Krutham, a South Africa-focused research organization, said in a report released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately, as many as 120,000 jobs could be affected<\/strong> as companies such as trucking firms service the industry, and studies to date have paid little attention to the coal-dependent informal economy, Krutham said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are concerns over how to support workers and communities in finding alternative livelihoods amidst the upcoming Just Energy Transition in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initiatives to prepare workers and communities have to date, been mainly donor-funded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProvincial and local governments do not have a specific budget line that is dedicated to the Just Energy Transition initiatives,\u201d Krutham researchers said in the report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is a clear indication that municipalities do not have a clear understanding of addressing the energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa and its north-eastern Mpumalanga province are in focus as the $8.5 billion climate finance pact, known as the JETP, with some of the world\u2019s richest nations – France, Germany, the US, the UK and the European Union – is a prototype for similar projects that are being pursued in Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Key to those deals is how coal-dependent communities will be shielded from the impact of the transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe lack of JET mainstreaming in public financing is one of the key barriers to unlocking financing at scale for JET initiatives,\u201d Krutham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government should ring-fence funds for the transition, restore the creditworthiness of municipalities in Mpumalanga and create a fund within the National Treasury from which projects can be funded, Krutham added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More effort should also be made to attract private financing to projects to meet the scale of the challenge, the research group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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