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The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) argues that South Africa faces a structural unemployment crisis, with approximately 9.6 million unemployed as of June 2018 and a severe lack of social protection for adults. To address this, the IEJ proposes either a universal employment guarantee scheme (EGS) modeled after India's NREGA, guaranteeing 100 days of work per year, or a workseekers grant providing a flat monthly amount (suggested at R1000 for six months a year). Both options are estimated to cost between R30-36 billion per annum. The IEJ suggests financing these schemes through a R15 billion annual contribution from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) surplus, supplemented by solidarity taxes such as a wealth tax and restructured corporate income tax.

The document argues that investing in water resilience makes financial sense regardless of whether water tariffs are strict or relaxed. It models three business scenarios—a medium-sized office, a medium-sized manufacturing facility, and a large manufacturing facility—demonstrating that solutions like smart metering, retrofitting, and rainwater harvesting can reduce municipal water reliance by up to 70% and lower water-related costs by 60%. All modelled solutions are projected to pay for themselves in under six years.

The document outlines a bottom-up risk assessment of seven infrastructure categories in El Salvador, estimating an average annual loss of US$35.5 million. It identifies earthquakes and floods as the primary drivers of loss and recommends integrating these findings into local planning and climate change adaptation strategies.

The report finds that Germany has sufficient capital to meet its renewable energy targets, with an annual investment potential of €25-€35 billion, which is 60-170% more than required. However, achieving these goals at the lowest cost requires a diverse mix of investors, including small-scale end users and institutional investors. The analysis highlights that current energy market designs could lead to over 1,000 hours of negative electricity prices per year by 2030, and that aggressive economic curtailment policies could increase onshore wind bid prices by 17% by 2020. To mitigate these risks, the report recommends 'take-or-pay' arrangements or proportional curtailment. Additionally, it warns that complex incentive auction designs may exclude smaller investors, who provided over 25% of equity investment in 2015, potentially increasing long-term energy costs by limiting competition and site diversity.

The South African Renewables Initiative (SARi) aims to establish financing arrangements to enable a critical mass of renewable energy in South Africa, targeting 19 GW by 2030. The primary challenge is the higher financial cost of renewables compared to coal, which has historically been subsidized. To address this, SARi proposes a mix of concessional loans, risk insurance, and guarantees to leverage private investment. The initiative also emphasizes an industrial strategy to create local jobs and reduce the carbon intensity of exports.

The document estimates that Phase III of the EU ETS will generate between €150-190bn in revenues across the EU by 2020, potentially rising to €200-310bn if a 30% reduction target is adopted. Germany is projected to receive the highest proportion of these revenues, while Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK are each expected to accrue over €10bn from the power sector alone. The briefing also explores the financial impact of expanding auctioning to the cement and steel sectors and suggests strategic uses for these funds, including carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration, renewable energy RD&D, grid infrastructure, and international climate finance.

The report examines the steel sector's role in global emissions, specifically focusing on China and India. It identifies six abatement categories, noting that while new plants often meet best available technology (BAT) standards, significant potential remains in closing obsolete plants, improving efficiency in existing facilities, and increasing scrap recycling. The study suggests that a national approach combining carbon pricing with non-price incentives (like investment capital) is more viable than transnational trading. Initial modelling indicates that with a carbon price of $25/tCO2, China could abate up to 150 MtCO2/year and India up to 40 MtCO2/year, potentially generating significant financial flows through credits.

This document consists of several annexures related to two proposed coal mining projects in Mpumalanga, South Africa: the Lusthof Colliery and the WPB Colliery. The first part is a draft report from 2012 by Dr. Hugo van Zyl for Black Gold Coal Estates (BGCE) regarding the financial provisioning for a Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant (WTP) at Lusthof Colliery, estimating a required provision of approximately R74.42 million to cover construction and 100 years of post-closure operation. The second part contains correspondence and reviews from 2013 to 2015 regarding the WPB Colliery, featuring objections from BirdLife South Africa and technical reviews by Golder Associates. These reviews highlight 'fatal flaws' in the WPB Colliery's water use license application, specifically the lack of adequate acid mine drainage (AMD) assessment, insufficient public participation, and flawed geochemical modelling for pollution mitigation.

The report argues that solar PV is highly suitable for packhouses because their peak energy demands for cooling and packing align with daytime solar generation. Through modelling an apple packhouse, the report finds that large-scale systems (500 kWp) are consistently profitable across various tariff and financing scenarios, while smaller systems (≤10 kWp) require favourable financing to be viable. It emphasizes that the primary value is derived from replacing expensive grid electricity rather than selling excess power back to the grid, which offers lower returns. The report also identifies regulatory hurdles, noting that feed-in tariffs are only available in specific Western Cape municipalities.