CCAQ focus area: GE & GESD | Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Submitted by mtladi on November 6, 2025

GREEN ECONOMY &

GREEN ECONOMY FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (GE & GESD)

SOUTH AFRICA'S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT VISION

Is outlined in the National Framework for Sustainable Development as: "South Africa aspires to be a sustainable, economically prosperous and self-reliant nation state that safeguards its democracy by meeting the fundamental human needs of its people, by managing its limited ecological resources responsibly for current and future generations, and by advancing efficient and effective integrated planning and governance through national, regional and global collaboration".

WHAT ARE GREEN JOBS?

KEY AREAS IDENTIFIED

RELATED PROJECTS

POLICIES & RESOURCES

CONTEXT

GREEN ECONOMY AS A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PATH

South Africa views green economy as a sustainable development path based on addressing the interdependence between economic growth, social protection and natural ecosystem.

SOUTH AFRICA'S APPROACH

The South African approach is to ensure that green economy programmes are to be supported by practical and implementable action plan therefore importance of building on existing best processes, programmes, initiatives and indigenous knowledge in key sectors “towards a resource efficient, low carbon and pro-employment growth path” and that government alone cannot manage and fund a just transition to a green economy, that the private sector and civil society must play a fundamental role.

SA'S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT VISION

The country’s sustainable development vision is outlined in the National Framework for Sustainable Development (2008) as “South Africa aspires to be a sustainable, economically prosperous and self-reliant nation state that safeguards its democracy by meeting the fundamental human needs of its people, by managing its limited ecological resources responsibly for current and future generations, and by advancing efficient and effective integrated planning and governance through national, regional and global collaboration”.

THE DEFINITION OF GREEN ECONOMY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT

A more formal definition can be regarded as a “system of economic activities related to the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services that result in improved human well-being over the long term, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks or ecological scarcities”. It implies the decoupling of resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth. It is characterised by substantially increased investment in green sectors, supported by enabling policy reforms.

The GREEN ECONOMY refers to two inter-linked developmental outcomes for the South African economy:

Growing ECONOMIC ACITIVITY (which leads to investment, jobs and competitiveness) IN THE GREEN INDUSTRY SECTOR
A SHIFT IN THE ECONOMY as a whole towards cleaner industries and sectors.

WHAT ARE GREEN JOBS?

DEFINITION OF GREEN JOBS

Green jobs is defined according to UNEP as work in:

Agricultural, manufacturing, research and development, administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high efficiency strategies; de-carbonise the economy; and minimise or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution.
Greater efficiency in the use of energy, water, and materials is a core objective i.e. achieving the same economic output (and level of wellbeing) with far less material input.
Green Jobs span a wide array of skills, educational backgrounds, and occupational profiles. They occur in:

Research and development; professional fields such as engineering and architecture; project planning and management; auditing; administration, marketing, retail, and customer services; many traditional blue-collar areas such as plumbing or electrical wiring; science and academia, professional associations, and civil society organizations (advocacy and community organizations, etc.)
Also green jobs exist not just in private business, but also in government offices (standard setting, policy-making, permitting, monitoring and enforcement, support programs, etc.),

Not all green jobs will be new ones. Some green jobs are easily identifiable - such as people employed in installing a solar panel or operating a wind turbine. Others, particularly in supplier industries, may be far less so. For instance, a particular piece of specialty steel may be used to manufacture a wind turbine tower without the steel company employees even being aware of that fact. Thus, some jobs come with a clear "green badge," whereas others - in traditional sectors of the economy - may not have an obvious green look and feel.

SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The DFFE in close collaboration with the key departments of Science, Technology and Innovation, Trade, Industry and Competition and Economic Development of the Economic Sectors and Employment Cluster hosted the first national Green Economy Summit from 18 to 20 May 2010 to gather valuable insights on key areas of focus areas and issues requiring attention in the short, medium and long term. This first South African National Green Economy Summit was addressed by the President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MECs, Parliamentary Committees Chairpersons, private sector, NGOs and labour organisations.

The participants noted the address by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma where he highlighted that ecosystem failure will seriously compromise our ability to address our social and economic priorities. He further reiterated that natural resources are national economic assets, and our economy depends heavily on energy and mineral resources, biodiversity, agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism. The president pointed out that we have no option but to manage our natural resources in a sustainable way. We have no choice but to be eco-friendly. We have no choice but to develop a green economy.

NINE KEY AREAS IDENTIFIED

IN THE GREEN ECONOMY PROGRAMMES

GREEN ECONOMY ACTION

South Africa recognises that green economy action has a number of crosscutting roles and responsibilities. The implementation is significantly decentralised and includes private sector, civil society and all levels of government. The nine key focus areas are identified in the green economy programmes that include:

AGRICULTURE, FOOD PRODUCTION AND FORESTRY:

programme includes integrated sustainable agricultural production.

WATER MANAGEMENT:

programme includes: water harvesting; alternative technology for effluent management; comprehensive municipal water metering (demand side management); reduce water losses in agriculture, municipalities and mining.

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION:

programme includes: industry specific production methods; industrial production technology changes.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY:

programme includes: greening large events and legacy (2010 Soccer World Cup, COP17 flagship & Tourism) and; research, awareness and skills development and knowledge management.

GREEN BUILDINGS AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT:

programme includes greening private and public buildings.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE:

programme includes promoting non-motorised transport.

CLEAN ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY:

programme includes: expanding off-grid options in rural and urban; REFIT optimisation for large scale renewable and localisation and; up-scaling solar water heater rollout.

RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT:

programme includes: national payments for ecosystem services; up-scale "Working for" programmes; infrastructure resilience and ecosystems; offset programme; wildlife management.

SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES:

programme includes: waste beneficiation; zero waste community programme for 500 000 households.

ENABLERS OF IMPLEMENTATION

CAPACITY + PARTNERSHIPS

The overall enablers of implementation for the green economy programmes were identified and they include: Regulatory framework; market-based instruments; innovation, science and technology commercialisation, greater localisation and manufacturing; investment, finance opportunities and financing instruments include leveraging of funds; availability of skills; institutional capabilities and capacity and partnerships.

INVESTMENT POTENTIAL

A number of initiatives within civil society, private and private sectors are already in implementation. The investment potential within the country is significant to position South Africa as a primary investor in funding a transition towards a greener economy for example the following commitments are made: DEA R800 million, DBSA R10 billion, IDC R25 billion over five years and private finance estimated at R100 billion. In 2009 South Africa received a major boost in its ambition to meet clean energy goals. The $500 million for South Africa's Clean Technology Fund (CTF) Investment Plan (IP) paves the way for us to move closer to our vision of generating electricity from renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and providing 1 million households with solar water heating over the next five years.

RELATED PROJECTS

LEGACY PROJECT: COP17 - A LOW CARBON EVENT

South Africa hosted the 17th session of the Conference of Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the seventh Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC COP17/CMP7 also known as COP 17). This auspicious event was held in the City of Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

LEGACY PROJECT: GREENING 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP

South Africa, through its National Greening Programme was committed to integrating environmental principles into the planning and organisation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The initiative was intended to sensitise the local and international football community to environmental sustainability issues and the securing of a long-term foundation for environmental concerns in national and international football.

CARBON OFFSET PROGRAMME: LED LIGHTING RETROFIT PROJECT

LED lighting technology has come to maturity and is now able to deliver a similar or better light experience whilst offering electricity savings of up to 90% compared to incandescent lights and 50% compared to CFLs. With South Africa facing an immediate energy crisis, demand side management projects are essential for safeguarding against blackouts and protecting the nation's economy.

This first programmatic CDM project in the world using LED lighting consists of the massive retrofit of inefficient lighting with LED in housing, street lights, hotels and office buildings and lemnis lighting's LED wide range of products with high efficiency and the mesopic light concept for outdoor will be used.

Co-benefits of the project are the introduction of 10,000 off-grid solar lights in rural areas. Although carbon emissions from kerosene lights are saved, they have not been included in the carbon program.

SOIL AND MORE RELIANCE PROJECT

Situated in the heart of the beautiful Cape Boland region, Soil & More Reliance produces world class certified organic compost. Approximately 25,000 m³ of chipped green garden refuse is collected monthly on 10 conveniently placed drop-off facilities and landfills around the City.

Some of the biggest environmental problems South Africa has to face are lack of fertile land, soil degradation, and pollution of its rivers and groundwater. One of the main factors causing these problems is the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pest and disease control agents.

The main input material for producing Soil & More Reliance's compost is municipal green waste, as well as alien vegetation that presents an environmental threat in the Western Cape. By removing this alien vegetation from the water, Soil & More Reliance helps fight river pollution while producing high quality compost that is designed to replace chemical fertilisers.

TICOS AND SUNFIRES SOLUTIONS

This project seeks to stimulate Southern Africa's largely ignored solar potential by recruiting community-based entrepreneurs to promote solar and fuel efficient cookers in three areas: Soweto, Polokwane and Acornhoek.

Through the entrepreneurs, the project will support the distribution of 1,500 solar & fuel efficient cookers in each area (i.e. 4,500 households), to reduce 37,000 tonnes CO2e over 6 years from implementation. Funding will enable a subsidy to be given for each stove making it financially accessible for the poor whilst still ensuring its value is retained.

Additionally the project supports the education of environmental, social and economic issues around fossil and nsustainable wood fuel use to promote the benefits of solar and fuel-efficient stoves in the three areas.

NOVA HIGHVELD AIR QUALITY PROJECT

The project is active in 11 municipalities in four South African provinces on the Highveld: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. The Highveld, at an altitude of 1,500 meter and higher, often experiences temperatures as low as zero degrees Celsius in winter.

The area is rich in coal and water, with the result that huge mines, heavy industries and large power plants have been established here. They attract large numbers of people from rural areas and neighboring countries.

Many dreams of finding a job and a steady income have never been realized, with the esult that sprawling informal settlements are found around every town and city.

MAINSTREAM RENEWABLE POWER SOUTH AFRICA

The 180 MW wind project is located in the Jeffrey's Bay is proposednear Jeffrey's Bay within the Kouga municipal area north of the town in the Eastern Cape Province.

The facility is proposed on the coastal plateau inland of the towns of Humansdorp and Jeffrey's Bay.

The facility will cover several farms, the majority of which are located immediately inland of the N2 highway, with & the project area being approximately Skm north-west from the closest inhabited residential area of Wavecrest,at Jeffrey's Bay.

PARTNERSHIP FOR ACTION ON GREEN ECONOMY (PAGE)

BACKGROUND

In 2015, South Africa joined the global programme, Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) to strengthen the cooperation, coordination and capabilities required to implement the country's transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient and pro-employment development path.

PAGE is a UN-programme which brings together the expertise of five agencies – United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), to support countries and regions to put sustainability at the heart of economic policies and practices to advance the 2030 Agenda.

OBJECTIVES

PAGE has three main objectives in South Africa. The first is to contribute to better policy coordination, strengthen dialogue and help deepen collaboration in green economy policy, planning and implementation processes.

The second is to identify potential and enabling factors for selected green economy sectors and/or industrial segments with the intent of promoting sector reform. The third objective relates to strengthening capabilities through enhanced green economy training, learning and knowledge sharing, including support for national learning institutions in South Africa.

COORDINATION

The department is the PAGE coordinating ministry, while the PAGE lead agency in South Africa is the ILO.

For more information on PAGE, visit the web site: www.un-page.org or for information on PAGE in South Africa go to: https://www.un-page.org/countries/south-africa/.

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