MEDIA RELEASE NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION AND PRESIDENTIAL CLIMATE COMMISSION

NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION AND PRESIDENTIAL CLIMATE COMMISSION PLEDGE TO SUPPORT PUBLIC SECTOR CAPACITY IN ADDRESSING CURRENT CRISES

JOHANNESBURG, 4 August 2022

The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) and the National Planning Commission (NPC) held a consultative meeting on Friday, 29 July 2022, in Johannesburg.

The idea of a PCC arose out of recommendations of the National Development Plan - Vision 2030. The PCC was established in 2020 as a multi-stakeholder and social partner platform to drive the country’s Just Transition to a low carbon economy.

At their joint meeting, the PCC and the NPC took the opportunity to discuss work and programme alignment. They also addressed a few of the challenges facing our country, such as disaster management, climate change, the state of the economy, governance, and the capacity of the state to respond to these challenges.

They agreed that the envisaged Just Transition should lead to a low-carbon but sustainable and inclusive economy driven by technological innovation and investment in infrastructure. In this way, greater social inclusion will be achieved, and, in the process, we will build resilient communities.

The two commissions expressed appreciation for the finalisation of the Just Transition Framework (JTF) by the PCC. This framework constitutes a great step towards a low-carbon economy. Encouraged by this important development, the two commissions pledged to work together in ensuring that the JTF is integrated into the national planning system of government.

The commissions also committed themselves to working with and advising government in addressing the scourge of corruption, lack of capacity, resource constraints, energy insecurity, the growing polarisation between social partners as well as the diminishing levels of trust between citizens and government.

The NPC and PCC noted the recent government efforts to reform the energy supply industry with appreciation, and called for timely implementation of the measures announced by President Ramaphosa.

The meeting called for a more dynamic process in the update of the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to ensure our country achieves energy security that is affordable and consistent with South Africa’s approved Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

The meeting resolved to work together in mobilising resources and expertise from local and international partners and stakeholders to ramp up the capacity of public institutions, including local government, to respond to the immediate challenges.

To further support the process of establishing a sustainable social compact for the economic recovery of our country, the PCC and the NPC agreed on the following areas of immediate collaboration and alignment in the work within their respective mandates:

1. Collaborate on research, planning, and co-ordination of stakeholder inputs and recommendations on the revisions of the country’s Integrated Resource Plan.
2. Reflect on a sustainable and just long-term energy mix that ensures energy security and affordability at the same time as reducing our CO₂ emissions and meeting our international commitments
   
3. To work together in mobilising all South Africans to participate in the search for solutions that will end energy scarcity.
   
4. To call on other stakeholders to innovate their practice in support of implementing these measures.
   
5. To mobilise the private sector to increase investment in energy generation and infrastructure. This investment must be done with the participation of communities, including youth, women, and worker-owned enterprises and co-operatives, to ensure their empowerment.
   
6. To provide support to municipalities to enable local government to address their service delivery challenges, especially as it relates to maintenance of infrastructure and responding to disasters and supporting communities in distress. This would be in the manner that policy, regulatory, and planning processes are aligned to local economic development and job creation
   

The meeting recognises that infrastructure development is critical to the realisation of a Just Transition, and to advance economic, social, and environmental justice. The PCC and NPC will support critical actions needed for sustained improvement in public infrastructure delivery with consideration to short and longer-term imperatives of a low-carbon economy.

Our interventions to the energy crisis should ignite investment in publicly-owned renewable generation, upgrade the grid, repurpose coal-fired power stations, attract investment the clean hydrogen, and develop new skills for youth and rural communities to, importantly, create and protect jobs.

To move forward in transforming our economy the meeting called upon key stakeholders and government to prioritise and reach consensus on a social compact that strikes a balance between short-term solutions to respond to the various crisis with the need for transition over the medium- to long-term.

For more information contact

Mr Blessing Manale Head: Communications and Outreach, PCC blessing@climatecommission.org.za or +27 73 036 5381

Ms Zarina Adhikari : National Planning Commission

Zarina.Adhikari@dpme.gov.za and Cell 082 345 2919