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The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) submitted comments on the South African National Petroleum Company Bill, B2 - 2026, arguing that the draft legislation prioritizes petroleum expansion and commercialization over environmental governance, climate commitments, and constitutional rights. While acknowledging the potential for improved coordination by consolidating PetroSA, iGas, and the Strategic Fuel Fund, the CER recommends rejecting the Bill in its current form until significant amendments are made to align it with South Africa's climate obligations and environmental laws.

This research paper evaluates the coherence of national water, energy, and agricultural policies in four Sub-Saharan African countries to determine their impact on Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus integration and energy transition pathways.

This discussion paper analyzes the barriers to adopting climate risk insurance in municipalities within emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), where over 90% of losses remain uninsured. It identifies parametric insurance as a key solution due to its rapid payouts and simpler structure. The paper highlights a significant collaboration gap in the current ecosystem, where few programs engage directly with cities. To address this, it proposes three priority actions: establishing premium support mechanisms, enhancing municipal risk-layering capacity, and reforming regulatory environments to make insurance more affordable and financially viable.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) condemns recent anti-migrant violence in South Africa, arguing that such attacks are orchestrated by political actors to distract from systemic economic failures. The IEJ asserts that poverty, unemployment, and failing public services are the root causes of community anger, and calls for comprehensive social and economic transformation rather than vigilante violence.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and #PayTheGrants are challenging the South African government's Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant system in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on 25 August 2026. This follows a 2025 High Court ruling that found the grant system to be unconstitutionally exclusionary, specifically regarding its online-only application and flawed verification processes.

A submission by a coalition of civil society organisations—including Law for Energy Transitions Africa, Natural Justice, The Green Connection, and Project 90 by 2030—providing detailed comments on the draft South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) Code and Rules. The submission argues that the draft framework lacks sufficient alignment with constitutional rights and climate obligations, suffers from governance conflicts of interest due to the Market Operator's link to Eskom, and lacks transparency regarding costs and contracts.

This research paper proposes 'transition compacts'—negotiated, sector-specific packages bundling trade disciplines, investment, technology transfer, and transition timelines—as a more equitable alternative to the current patchwork of unilateral green industrial policies and carbon border adjustments. The author argues that existing frameworks, including the WTO and Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs), suffer from structural flaws or a lack of binding equity provisions, whereas transition compacts would link market access to verified emissions performance and binding support for developing nations.

This briefing by Zero Carbon Analytics, in partnership with the Global Offshore Wind Alliance and Ocean Conservancy, examines the potential for offshore wind and marine energy in Africa. It highlights that the continent's 30,500-kilometre coastline could support 6,750 GW of offshore wind, which could significantly exceed current power generation capacity and provide substantial economic and environmental benefits if scaled.

The Centre for Environmental Rights, acting for the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), submitted formal objections to ArcelorMittal South Africa's (AMSA) application for an alternative SO2 emission limit at its Vanderbijlpark Works. The objections argue that granting a limit of 1,500 mg/Nm³—three times the legal standard of 500 mg/Nm³—would violate constitutional rights to a healthy environment, ignore the conversion of SO2 into dangerous particulate matter (PM), and prioritize corporate cost-savings over public health in a known pollution hotspot.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of South Africa's development trajectory to 2043, comparing a 'Current Path' (business-as-usual) against eight sectoral scenarios and a 'Combined' scenario. It examines the impacts of demographics, health, education, manufacturing, trade (AfCFTA), infrastructure, financial flows, and governance on the country's GDP, poverty levels, and carbon emissions. The analysis highlights structural challenges such as extreme inequality, high unemployment, and a history of deindustrialisation, while offering policy recommendations to transition toward an export-led, green economy with improved human capital and governance.

This report provides a comprehensive overview of South Africa's geographic and socio-economic landscape. It details the country's transition from apartheid to a democratic state, the subsequent economic fluctuations, and the current challenges of deindustrialisation, corruption, and infrastructure decay. Key focus areas include the decline of the mining sector despite vast mineral reserves, the impact of the 2024 elections on political governance, and critical shortages in electricity and water.

This research paper by Jakkie Cilliers analyzes the state of governance in Africa, comparing its security, capacity, and inclusion metrics against the rest of the world. It examines the relationship between governance quality, stability, and economic development, highlighting the risks associated with autocratic leadership and the role of democratic institutions as shock absorbers.

This introductory research paper provides a geographic, political, and demographic overview of Zimbabwe, detailing its landlocked position in Southern Africa, its ethnic composition, and its transition from independence in 1980 through the leadership of Robert Mugabe to Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This research paper outlines a 'Governance scenario' for Africa, modeling the potential socio-economic impacts of improvements in stability, government capacity, and inclusion by 2043. It specifically examines how digital technology can enable direct cash transfer programs to replace inefficient subsidies and forecasts significant gains in GDP and poverty reduction across the continent.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues that the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, must address the root cause of ocean degradation by confronting the expansion of offshore oil and gas and rejecting speculative marine geoengineering technologies.

This working paper from the International Institute for Sustainable Development introduces a framework for an intersectional approach to Climate Risk Assessments (CRAs). The approach aims to move beyond simple identification of vulnerable groups to analyze how overlapping systems of inequity create structural barriers that increase climate vulnerability.

This report by the Institute for Security Studies examines global 'wildcards' and megatrends—including great-power instability, generative AI, and the biosphere crisis—that could disrupt future scenarios for Africa and the world by 2043.

This report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development examines how renewable energy infrastructure developed for mining operations can be leveraged to enhance local content policy, energy access, and community resilience, providing policy recommendations for governments to align mining and development goals.

The Climate Bonds Resilience Taxonomy (CBRT) V1.1 Methodology Document Annexes provide detailed process-based guidance and worked examples for assessing adapting measures, adapted activities, enabling measures, and enabling activities to ensure they contribute substantially to climate resilience.

The Climate Bonds Initiative's Q1 2026 report details the state of the global aligned GSS+ (Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-linked) debt market. As of March 2026, the cumulative aligned volume reached USD 6,986.0 billion, with green-labelled debt remaining the dominant theme. While the overall market saw a 9% decline in supply compared to Q1 2025 on a like-for-like basis, specific regions like France and Germany showed strong activity in social and green bonds, respectively.