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The Mail & Guardian •

SA’s gas expansion: Women demand people-first energy policy – The Mail & Guardian

With the threat of billions being poured into fossil fuel projects that risk becoming stranded assets, women safeguarding community livelihoods and cultural heritage are calling for inclusive governance and a people-first energy policy.


The Green Connection’s recent court victory against TotalEnergies EP South Africa 567, an offshore oil and gas exploration project proposed off the south-west coast of South Africa, is more than a legal triumph. It is proof that when women at community level r...
New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Ec •

Climate incrementalism threatens to derail COP26 negotiations | New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy

The reality of our changing climate can no longer be ignored: Germany, China and the United Kingdom have reported unprecedented rainfall; temperatures in North Africa and Turkey have surged to 50°C; and Cyclones Eloise and Ana pillaged Sub-Saharan Africa and Fiji, respectively. As the repercussions of a 1.2°C world become apparent, the globe has come to a collective realisation that climate change is no longer imminent but violently unfurling before our eyes. As our global leaders prepare to con...
New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Ec •

Climate incrementalism threatens to derail COP26 negotiations | New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy

The reality of our changing climate can no longer be ignored: Germany, China and the United Kingdom have reported unprecedented rainfall; temperatures in North Africa and Turkey have surged to 50°C; and Cyclones Eloise and Ana pillaged Sub-Saharan Africa and Fiji, respectively. As the repercussions of a 1.2°C world become apparent, the globe has come to a collective realisation that climate change is no longer imminent but violently unfurling before our eyes. As our global leaders prepare to con...
New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Ec •

Climate incrementalism threatens to derail COP26 negotiations | New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy

The reality of our changing climate can no longer be ignored: Germany, China and the United Kingdom have reported unprecedented rainfall; temperatures in North Africa and Turkey have surged to 50°C; and Cyclones Eloise and Ana pillaged Sub-Saharan Africa and Fiji, respectively. As the repercussions of a 1.2°C world become apparent, the globe has come to a collective realisation that climate change is no longer imminent but violently unfurling before our eyes. As our global leaders prepare to con...
Greenpeace International •

Time to make polluters pay - Greenpeace International

Deadly floods in Kenya, Brazil, China, Dubai and Germany. The US bracing for an extraordinarily hazardous hurricane season and Greek firefighters again on high alert for potential wildfires.

The severity of the climate crisis is stark and immediate. The question is though, who will pay for the damages experienced now and in the future? And how will the clean energy transition be financed? This has been a central question at the the annual mid-year UN climate talks in Bonn, this June.

Trillions...
Greenpeace Africa •

The Department of Environment, Forest, Fisheries (DEFF) needs to look no further than itself for the source of the sulphur dioxide stench. - Greenpeace Africa

The foul stench experienced by Gauteng residents in February 2021 is not a new occurrence, and it most certainly will not be the last. Minister Barbara Creecy has ensured that. Through her decision to further weaken the minimum emission standards (MES) for sulphur dioxide (SO2) in March 2020 and her continued leniency towards carbon majors Eskom and Sasol (despite her public professions otherwise), the minister has guaranteed a steady supply of fart-flavoured air coming your way.

The Department...
Greenpeace Africa •

Fossil Fuel Companies Are Continuing the Scramble for Africa & We Need to Talk About It - Greenpeace Africa

While global leaders have politically endorsed the scientific consensus to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as stipulated in the Paris Agreement, there is a growing clamber for oil and gas exploration in the Global South. A clamber that brings to mind the scramble for Africa.

The Scramble for Africa was a short-lived history lesson that was basically skimmed over in high school classrooms; so for those who do not know, the Scramble for Africa was the rush to conquer, c...
News24 •

OPINION | Thandile Chinyavanhu: KZN floods - Climate change IS a gender issue | News24

Following the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal, Thandile Chinyavanhu writes that climate change is a gender issue and unless our government can mitigate its impacts, more women will be plunged into poverty.The early lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of 2020 led to a spike in domestic gender-based violence incidence. SouthAfrica saw a 37% spike in GBV reports during the first week of lockdown. This was a consequence of the South African government's siloed ap...
BusinessLIVE •

Renewable energy offers escape from crippling joblessness

Stats SA recently released official unemployment figures covering the period when national lockdown hit SA, leading to a 16.4% contraction of the economy. Concerns over the impact of Covid-19 on employment were confirmed with the disheartening reality that the unemployment rate had climbed to a record 32.5%, from 28.9% in 2019. Youth unemployment has reached a seemingly insurmountable 61.3%, and discouraged work-seekers are up 9.1%. A focus on immediate, quickly implemented successes, such as...
The Mail & Guardian •

Women environmental activists often pay the ultimate price – The Mail & Guardian

Extractive industries, which favour men in employment, have long been linked to the systemic economic disenfranchisement of women, and an increased reliance on men. The exacerbating power dynamic is responsible for increased incidents of domestic violence, transactional sex, forced prostitution, HIV transmission and acts of violence against women. Rural indigenous women increasingly find themselves subjected to violence as a means to suppress activism and discourage other environmental activists...
Thought Leader •

Crimson carbon footprint - Thought Leader

Disposable menstrual products are a huge source of single-use plastic packaging. Tampon applicators, for example, ultimately find their way into marine environments posing as detrimental a threat to marine life as plastic straws do


In January, South Africa joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global plastic pact network which encourages multilateral collaboration to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy for plastics. 


The pact was developed by the Worldwide Fund for Natur...
Thought Leader •

Lockdown regulations stoke energy poverty - Thought Leader

Earlier this year, Soweto residents took to the streets in protest of Eskom’s erratic provision of electricity. The state utility attributed its poor performance to an estimated R18-billion debt owed by Soweto residents. This issue, however, was soon overshadowed by the imminent coronavirus pandemic. As South Africa’s winter reaches its zenith and Covid-19 cases spike, it is essential to reignite the conversation about energy poverty and how it has been further intensified by the government’s im...
The Mail & Guardian •

Cashing in on climate change by investing in renewable energy – The Mail & Guardian

On May 30 this year, Standard Bank shareholders voted on a resolution that would require the bank to disclose the climate-related risks to which its activities expose its investors. This comes on the back of mounting pressure globally for the private sector to take a more radical approach to tackling climate change.
Ultimately, the shareholders voted against the motion and opted to disclose only their coal financing policies. While this is a step in the right direction, more enforceable action i...