This Friday the UN’s climate body (UNFCCC) will release an assessment of the 48 national emission reduction plans submitted by the end of 2020. The plans account for 75 parties to the UN, as the EU27 is counted as one bloc, and cover an estimated 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While most countries have incrementally increased ambition, the combined impact puts them … [Read more...]
Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission appointed
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed members of the inaugural Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission (P4C) with effect from 17 December 2020. The establishment of the Commission emanates from the Presidential Jobs Summit held in October 2018 when social partners agreed that a statutory body be formed to coordinate and oversee the just transition towards a … [Read more...]
Youth protest lack of climate action in Joburg
“This year has been a complete right-off for climate action and a massive knock for the people, especially the youth, of this country! We are in a race against time to keep temperatures well-below 2 degrees or stabilise at 1.5°C degrees, and as it stands, current levels of warming has already resulted in human rights’ violations.” So said Earthlife Africa Johannesburg … [Read more...]
Greenhouse gases still at record levels after lockdown
The industrial slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not curbed record levels of greenhouse gases which are trapping heat in the atmosphere, increasing temperatures and driving more extreme weather, ice melt, sea-level rise and ocean acidification, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The lockdown has cut emissions of many pollutants and greenhouse … [Read more...]
The wooden economy and the world’s ultimate renewable
For millennia, trees have provided mankind with fuel, food, fibre and medicine from their fruit, flowers, roots, wood, leaves and branches. In fact, many things we use daily are connected to wood. Printer paper, chewing gum, planks, viscose fabric, vitamins, pallets, toilet tissue, toothpaste, and detergents all have a link back to wood. Wood is made up of cellulose, … [Read more...]
Limpopo communities demand action on air pollution
This morning, in a peaceful demonstration – that started at the crack of dawn at the Medupi, Matimba and Exxaro crossing – Earthlife Africa Johannesburg joined local community activists in Lephalale in Limpopo Province, to demand that the World Bank forfeits its loan to Eskom’s Medupi coal-fired power station for failing to install pollution-abatement technologies to help ease … [Read more...]
South Africa’s SO2 emissions drop in 2019, no thanks to government
South Africa saw a sharp decrease in Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) emissions in 2019, bringing the country’s emissions to their lowest level on record, according to new research by Greenpeace India and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). A significant drop in emissions would increase the quality of life for thousands of South Africans who suffer from respiratory … [Read more...]
Major climate impacts destroy another coal power plant
Major climate impacts and exorbitant costs have sounded the death knell for one of the last new proposed coal-fired power stations in South Africa: Thabametsi in water-scarce Limpopo. Last week, environmental justice groups Earthlife Africa and groundWork, who have been challenging the Thabametsi power station in court since 2016, secured agreement from both Thabametsi and … [Read more...]
Imagining a just recovery in South Africa
For many climate justice advocates, the trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic is unsurprising, as it mirrors the very systems and structures that underpin the climate crisis. A new report by the Institute for Economic Justice, 350Africa and the Climate Justice Coalition attempts to show the way to a Just Recovery. The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically altered the lives of the … [Read more...]
SA slowly turning the tide against plastic pollution
The South African plastics industry has released the plastics recycling figures for the year ending December 2019. According to Anton Hanekom, Plastics|SA’s Executive Director, a detailed survey into the state of the country’s plastics recycling industry is conducted annually by Annabé Pretorius of Plastix 911 - an independent consultant who has an unsurpassable knowledge of … [Read more...]
Load shedding here to stay: energy efficiency vital
While South Africans celebrate the lifting of many Covid-19 restrictions and the full reopening of the economy, the news is not all good as Eskom has reported a severely constrained power system, resulting in continued load shedding. This latest round of load shedding comes as ten generation units at seven power stations have suffered breakdowns in the last 48 hours. “These … [Read more...]
Bold action and strategies required to tackle climate change
The City of Cape Town’s draft Climate Change Strategy is available for public comment from 1 to 30 September 2020. Climate change is a global threat and Cape Town is particularly vulnerable. Residents and interested parties are encouraged to please participate in this process. It is the City’s vision to create an urban environment that is climate resilient, resource … [Read more...]
True sustainability can only be achieved by design
COVID-19 has caused humanity’s ecological footprint to contract by three weeks. However, true sustainability that allows all to thrive on Earth can only be achieved by design, not disaster. Even though there has been an incredible cost to human life and the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, our ecological footprint in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has still more-or-less … [Read more...]
