South Africa needs to drastically increase its climate financing if it wants to meet its climate goals by 2030, a new report launched by the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) has found.
The report found that the country’s public and private climate investments would have to increase three to five times from the current average of R131 billion a year. Estimates show that the country needs about R334 billion per year to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and R535 billion per year to meet the climate goals set by the government in terms of the 2016 Paris Agreement.
It tracked private and public investments made between 2019 and 2021 “intended to fund the transition to a low-carbon economy and build resilience against present and future climate change”. These include investments in clean energy (which receives by far the most finance at 79%), low-carbon transport, water, the circular economy (e.g. recycling), and sustainable agriculture. Most of the climate funding was through debt.
The report, titled The South African Climate Finance Landscape 2023, was prepared for the PCC by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and GreenCape. The PCC is a body established and chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa that oversees the country’s “just transition” to a low-carbon economy.
Source: Moneyweb
