Fossil Free South Africa and 350 Africa congratulate the City of eThekwini/Durban on becoming the second South African city to commit to phasing out investments in climate-breaking fossil fuels. The eThekwini commitment was announced in late September, when the Mayors of Durban and Cape Town joined a group of 12 mayors from North America, Europe and Africa who promised “to … [Read more...]
Minister Barbara Creecy talks about climate change
The following speech was delivered by Minister Barbara Creecy during a Parliament debate on climate change, at the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, Cape Town, Western Cape Province on 11 March 2020: Allow me at the outset, to once again welcome the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to establishing the Presidential Climate Change Commission to lead our just … [Read more...]
IDC boosts young rural entrepreneurs
Siyabonga Tshabalala and Nomuntu Ndhlovu took the decision to leave their corporate jobs in Gauteng and go back home to their rural village of Steenbok in Mpumalanga, to start a business. Both aged 27, the pair now run SiyaBuddy, a recycling and waste management company that has now created 18 direct jobs and 541 indirect jobs in their community in the Nkomazi Local … [Read more...]
Time to divest from planet-threatening fossil fuels
We experience more droughts and floods than our grandmothers did when they were our age, and we cough on the air we breathe. What many of us don't know is that it is our own hard-earned savings that are funding the coal plants that are polluting Mzansi and contributing to climate change. But we can change this. Already, people around the world are forcing pension funds to … [Read more...]
Renewables vs Nuclear – choose a legacy!
While listening to a recent nuclear vs anti-nuclear energy discussion hosted by Cape Talk Radio, it dawned on me that choosing nuclear or renewables is much more than choosing an energy option. It is a choice between two divergent socio-economic opportunities and the consequent legacies. It is a choice that needs public participation and far wider involvement than the Dept of … [Read more...]
Extreme weather will be new norm without immediate action
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said this weekend that the organization’s investment focus will be on clean energy and that it will back coal-fired and other fossil fuel projects only when there is “extreme need.” Flying in the face of a popular climate denier narrative that says phasing out fossil fuels and addressing extreme poverty can’t be done at the same time, Kim said … [Read more...]
Archbishop Tutu joins students’ call for fossil free UCT
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has endorsed a campaign amongst staff, students and alumni at the University of Cape Town calling on the university to freeze and phase out its fossil fuel investments, to help stop dangerous climate change. The Archbishop’s call came 10 days before the formal launch of the UCT campaign during a public meeting on 30 July.. His statement … [Read more...]
Fossil fuel giants face ‘climate stress test’ at UN summit
The world’s 48 leading fossil fuel companies will be asked to run a ‘climate stress test’ at a summit hosted at UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday. Fund managers and investors attending the meeting want oil and gas majors to assess how compatible their assets are with global efforts to avoid dangerous levels of warming. US low carbon business group CERES, which runs … [Read more...]
