Over 120,000 jobs at risk in South Africa’s coal heartland transition

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For solar panels and wind turbines to operate, South Africa must transition coal workers into new roles within the renewable energy sector, including opportunities in construction, electrical engineering, and information technology.

But studies to date have often overlooked the coal-dependent informal economy. According to Krutham, efforts to assist workers and communities in transitioning have primarily relied on donor funding.

Provincial and local governments do not have a specific budget line that is dedicated to the Just Energy Transition initiatives,” Krutham researchers said in the report. “There is a clear indication that municipalities do not have a clear understanding of addressing the energy transition.”

The Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP), a document that is guiding South Africa’s move to renewables, includes an investment of nearly R2.7-billion ($151 million) for reskilling programmes across the country.

However, a similar probe by Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism and Climate Home News found a major skills gap in coal-reliant communities and a lack of clarity on how funds for reskilling will be implemented.

Hence, the transition to green energy sources in Mpumalanga is difficult to welcome.

From a community perspective it could bring even more poverty. The region has a soaring unemployment rate of 38%, and more than 100,000 jobs depend on coal.

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