SACFP study outlines investment priorities for the private sector to contribute towards addressing climate change in SA
National Government, South Africa
The study highlights fifteen investment areas for the private sector that address climate change, drive growth and create jobs.
The third Partnership for Action on the Green Economy (PAGE) Ministerial Conference will be held in Cape Town from the 10th to the 11th January 2019. High profile dignitaries and thought-leaders from across the globe will converge on South Africa to discuss the need to integrate economic growth, prosperity and sustainability. Core to this discussion is how economies transition towards emitting less greenhouse gases per unit of output whilst becoming more resilient to the impacts of climate change on society.
On the eve of the 2019 Ministerial Conference of the Partnership for Action on the Green Economy, SouthSouthNorth is releasing an independent study on the potential private sector investment priorities that support South Africa’s climate change outcomes.
The report confirms that private sector investment is an essential component of South Africa’s plan to address climate change, whilst simultaneously promoting national development priorities. The study considers priority investment areas that are low-hanging fruit for investors, policy makers and entrepreneurs alike. The report also highlights the opportunity for using funding from the Green Climate Fund’s Private Sector Facility to catalyse and scale private sector investments into low-carbon, climate resilient projects.
“The study is important because it seeks to build on the existing body of knowledge pertaining to the mobilisation of private sector finance for climate change action. Moreover it provides broad recommendations to enhance the effort to mobilise private sector finance at scale through leveraging the concessionality of the Green Climate Fund’s financial instruments within South Africa,” said Allie Ebrahim, the author of the study.
The study was commissioned under the Southern Africa Climate Finance Partnership (SACFP). The SACFP seeks to enhance cooperation between six countries on ways to increase the availability of resources to address climate change. This study aims to support the Government of South Africa’s conceptualisation of their country programming for the Green Climate Fund and to advance business unusual thinking within South African private sector. The United Kingdom’s Department of International Development and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation provide financial support for the current phase of the SACFP.
The executive summary and full report are available online.