Implementación de transiciones justas

This briefing examines the challenges of implementing just transition policies in South Africa, highlighting the gap between national ambitions and local priorities, institutional capacity deficits at the subnational level, and the limitations of current financial mechanisms. It specifically analyzes the role of green hydrogen as a potential new value chain and emphasizes the need for transparent decision-making to maintain public legitimacy.

• South Africa is a global leader in just transition planning, having established a Just Transition Framework in 2022 and a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) in 2021 with France, Germany, the UK, the EU, and the US. This led to the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) for 2023-2027 and a JET Implementation Plan in December 2023.
• There is a significant misalignment between the priorities of national actors (government, Eskom, and foreign funders), who focus on emission reductions and energy security, and local actors (communities, unions, and subnational entities), who prioritize job security, basic services, poverty, climate adaptation, and health impacts from coal mining.
• Subnational institutional capacity is insufficient to effectively implement just transition projects. This is particularly critical in Mpumalanga, the most coal-dependent region, where local governments face restricted financial resources, capacity gaps, and limited access to data, compounded by a history of centralized energy and mining policy-making.
• Existing financial rules and practices are ill-suited for transformative just transition projects, which are often small, high-risk, and utilize novel designs. The document suggests a need for blended finance, risk reduction activities, flexible structures for non-traditional partners, and decision-making metrics that prioritize social and environmental impacts over traditional financial metrics.
• Transparent decision-making is essential for selecting project beneficiaries and allocating resources to prevent corruption and ensure public legitimacy, especially given that South African regulatory agencies are frequently corrupted by the industries they regulate.
• Green hydrogen is promoted as a new low-carbon value chain to absorb coal workers, with nine strategic infrastructure projects announced in 2022. However, implementation faces hurdles: developers often treat just transition elements as secondary to technical viability, costs are higher than grey hydrogen, and local communities view the technology with skepticism or fear.

APA

Strambo, C., Patel, M., & Maimele, S. (2024). Implementación de transiciones justas. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/implementacion-de-transiciones-justas-lecciones-de-sudafrica.pdf

Chicago

Strambo, Claudia, Muhammed Patel, and Seutame Maimele. Implementación de transiciones justas. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2024. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/implementacion-de-transiciones-justas-lecciones-de-sudafrica.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Strambo |first1=Claudia |last2=Patel |first2=Muhammed |last3=Maimele |first3=Seutame |title=Implementación de transiciones justas |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=November 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/implementacion-de-transiciones-justas-lecciones-de-sudafrica.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{strambo2024implementacin, author = {Strambo, Claudia and Patel, Muhammed and Maimele, Seutame}, title = {{Implementación de transiciones justas}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/implementacion-de-transiciones-justas-lecciones-de-sudafrica.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }