Green skills for a just transition: lessons from Brazil and South Africa

The paper analyzes the energy transition pathways of Brazil and South Africa, focusing on the intersection of green skills and social protection. It highlights South Africa's struggle with coal dependency and fragmented skills planning versus Brazil's stronger renewable energy base and integrated social programs like Bolsa Verde. The authors argue that for a just transition, these nations must align green skills strategies with national development goals, increase funding for reskilling, and leverage South-South cooperation to protect vulnerable workers and reduce inequality.

• South Africa faces significant structural challenges in its green skills ecosystem, including a lack of a coherent national coordination mechanism and an Environmental Sector Skills Plan that has not been updated since 2010.
• There is a stark disparity in South Africa's transition funding; of the R1.4 trillion needed for the transition between 2023 and 2027, only R2.7 billion has been allocated to skills and jobs, with the allocation process described as lacking transparency.
• South Africa's transition poses high risks to specific regional industries: the coal value chain in Mpumalanga employs nearly 93,000 people, and the automotive industry in the Eastern Cape could see 100,000 jobs endangered by the shift to electric vehicles.
• Brazil has successfully integrated environmental goals with social welfare through programs like Bolsa Verde, which provides cash transfer top-ups to Bolsa Família beneficiaries who adopt sustainable practices, such as avoiding deforestation.
• Despite its success in creating over two million green jobs (including 1.5 million in renewable energy), Brazil struggles with high labour market informality and wage inequality, exemplified by waste recyclers earning an average of $230 per month, which is below the $250 minimum wage.
• The document recommends four primary actions: coordinating green skills strategies with national development plans, integrating social protection with sustainability objectives, increasing investment in vocational training and education reform, and enhancing South-South cooperation.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2025). Green skills for a just transition: lessons from Brazil and South Africa. https://saiia.org.za/research/green-skills-for-a-just-transition-lessons-from-brazil-and-south-africa/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Green skills for a just transition: lessons from Brazil and South Africa. 2025. https://saiia.org.za/research/green-skills-for-a-just-transition-lessons-from-brazil-and-south-africa/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Green skills for a just transition: lessons from Brazil and South Africa |date=1 September 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/green-skills-for-a-just-transition-lessons-from-brazil-and-south-africa/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2025green, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Green skills for a just transition: lessons from Brazil and South Africa}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/green-skills-for-a-just-transition-lessons-from-brazil-and-south-africa/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }