Legalbrief | your legal news hub Wednesday 29 September 2021 SA looks to green economy to create new jobs The SA Government is fully committed to ensuring a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy, it emerged at a three-day green economy summit in Sandton last week. The potential for job creation was a key focus, writes Legalbrief. President Jacob Zuma gave the keynote address, while six Cabinet Ministers explained how their departments would contribute to the plans for a green economy. A report in Business Day notes that Saliem Fakir, manager of the Living Planet Unit of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), warned that SA's green economy programme lagged behind those of other countries. 'The major driver of green economy initiatives worldwide is clean technology, but in SA the biggest opportunity is in waste,' he said. 'That's because we need a stronger renewable energy drive and legislation on emissions reduction which would encourage clean technology.' Zoe Lees, KPMG's associate director for sustainability services, said policies on industrialisation, economic growth, energy and climate change all needed to be integrated. She said SA needed to consider a range of priorities and decide which were most urgent. Full Business Day report Jobs can be created in SA at the same time that carbon emissions are reduced. This was said by Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor who opened the summit, says a report in The Citizen. The report quotes Pandor as saying: 'Our government has set a target to halve unemployment by 2014. This means SA must create 700 000 jobs per year.' She said it was probably possible to create 250 000 jobs a year without intervention. High technology innovation would help employment grow, she said. Pandor said it was necessary for SA to obtain support in this regard from international agencies. 'The International Labour Organisation has designed a green jobs programme model all of us should look at,' she said. She said a better broadband network had to be developed as part of the backbone for a green economy. A special plan had to be developed to increase renewable energy capacity, Pandor said. She said that waste management and recycling all offered opportunities for new jobs in vulnerable communities. A BuaNews report notes Pandor said there was a strong commitment across government at policy level to develop local content in government procurement as a means of encouraging a knowledge-intensive and sustainable economy. Full report in The Citizen Full BuaNews report SA must develop sustainably while managing its natural resources, Zuma told delegates at the summit. A Business Day report states that Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said SA would invest more than R1trn in expanding physical and social infrastructure in the next five years, which could spur on economic growth and development. Patel said that SA's opportunities included the development of new energy-efficient materials, large solar and wind energy farms, and green manufacturing, including car manufacturing, as well as eco-tourism and waste management. 'If SA is able to capture 2% of the estimated global green economy in the next five years, we can expect to create up to 400 000 jobs in energy, manufacturing, agriculture, mining and services,' Patel said. Patel added that SA needed to adopt a cross-departmental approach in order to seize opportunities in the green economy, says a report in The Citizen. Patel told the summit that the departments of public works, environmental affairs, energy, higher education and transport, among others, all had a role to play. Full Business Day report Full report in The Citizen See also an Engineering News report The Economic Development Department would also seek to mobilise financial resources to back the shift to the green economy, through institutions like the Industrial Development Corporation, as well as a potential 'green bond', and private capital markets. An Engineering News report notes that Patel said strengthening coordination between government departments, and including engagement with public enterprises such as Eskom, and building partnerships with the private sector were also on the department's list of green-economy priorities. Patel emphasised the need for adequate investment in research and development capabilities to sustain the green economy. The National Planning Commission's work will influence further economic development in SA, a report in The Citizen quotes President Zuma as saying. The commission would be producing reports on a range of issues affecting the country's long-term development, he said. Full Engineering News report Full report in The Citizen The SA mining industry needed to evolve from a brown industry to a contributor to a green economy by focusing on the rehabilitation of old mine sites, the introduction of cleaner technologies, and beneficiation, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said at the summit. According to a Mining Weekly report Shabangu pointed out that a shift towards more environmentally acceptable mining practices would require deep concentration on the optimisation of social and economic benefits from mining and the country's mineral resources. Currently, the country's mining industry is an employer of 500 000 direct jobs and 500 000 indirect jobs, and had contributed to around 2.9% of South Africa's GDP during the recessionary period. Full Mining Weekly report The summit ended with delegates calling for the development of green growth policies and regulations which support the development of clean technologies, notes a BuaNews report. As part of the declaration, the 650 delegates - including international guests - resolved to put the brakes on carbon emissions and other forms of pollution that have proved to be a hurdle to green economy development. They also resolved to push for the diversification of energy sources and implementation of energy efficient programmes, crucial for ensuring green growth. Maggie Sotyu, chair of Parliament's portfolio committee on Environmental Affairs, said Parliament would play a significant role in initiating and speeding up the process of greening the economy, especially in the form of new legislation and policy frameworks to facilitate the realisation of green economy in the country. In a unity statement produced at the end of the conference, delegates committed to ensuring that the country's growth path is resource sufficient, far less carbon intensive and more labour absorbing. Full BuaNews report See also an Engineering News report .