Search Climate Insights Directory

The white paper proposes using cleantech clusters—groups of co-located firms and institutions—to overcome the slow adoption of climate solutions in developing countries. It advocates for the creation of independent, non-profit cluster agencies to coordinate ecosystems, attract investment, and create jobs, citing the success of organizations like GreenCape and Clean in South Africa, Denmark, Brazil, and Colombia.

The GreenCape Sector Development Agency NPC provides this manual to facilitate public requests for information and to detail its personal data processing practices. It specifies that requests for records must be made in writing to the Information Officer, subject to prescribed fees and a 30-day response window. The document lists categories of records available without a formal request—such as the Memorandum of Incorporation and directors' names—and details the types of personal information collected from clients, employees, and service providers. It also describes security measures, including the use of Google Workspace with a data region policy for Europe and ESET Protect Advanced for endpoint protection.

The document identifies that urban agriculture (UA) in Cape Town is often viewed only as a food security solution rather than a viable economic activity. It highlights that small urban farmers are frequently locked out of formal markets due to a lack of economies of scale, high investment requirements, and insufficient business management skills. To overcome these, the report suggests the use of formal co-operatives to aggregate produce, the adoption of specific food safety accreditations (such as SAGAP or GlobalGAP), and the development of local physical markets like agrihubs and farm stalls. It also emphasizes the role of online marketplaces and the Western Cape Department of Agriculture's Market Access Programme in bridging the gap between producers and off-takers.

The document highlights the critical waste management challenges in Cape Town, where landfills are reaching capacity and organic waste contributes significantly to methane emissions. It presents Inseco as a circular economy solution that processes organic waste using Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to produce protein meal, oil, grubs, soil, and chitin. This process diverts waste from landfills, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and provides sustainable alternatives to soy and wild fish protein. Inseco's operations are projected to save companies money on landfill fees, create jobs, and support biodiversity by reducing reliance on deforestation-linked soy and overfished wild fish stocks.

The document details a proof of concept (POC) conducted by Octotel and KepuGas in Cape Town to evaluate LPG as an alternative fuel for light delivery vehicles. Testing on a Nissan NP200 and a Fiat Fiorino demonstrated significant cost savings (between 39.8% and 44.2%) and a reduction in emissions, specifically an estimated 22% decrease in CO2 and 68% decrease in NOx compared to petrol. The study highlights LPG's potential as a transition fuel toward full decarbonisation, noting its safety, lower maintenance costs due to reduced carbon build-up, and the ability for fleet owners to claim VAT.

The South African International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC) 2015, convened by REN21 and hosted by the South African Department of Energy and the South African National Energy Development Institute, took place from 4-7 October 2015 in Cape Town. As the first such conference hosted in Africa, it aimed to remove global barriers to renewable energy rollout and allow Africa to showcase its emerging renewable energy industry.

The study evaluates three methods for managing phosphate at the Cape Flats WWTW: high-grade struvite production, low-grade struvite production, and chemical precipitation. While chemical precipitation has the lowest initial capital expenditure, low-grade struvite production is identified as the most economically and ecologically sustainable option over a 20-year period, with a net present cost of R25.4 million compared to R51.2 million for chemical precipitation and R76.2 million for high-grade struvite. Despite these relative advantages, the study finds that struvite production is currently unprofitable due to low local market prices for phosphate fertilizers and high capital costs, suggesting a need for new policies that treat phosphate as a resource rather than a pollutant.

The document details the use of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to convert low-grade organic waste into high-value protein and oil for animal feed, pet food, and pharmaceuticals. It focuses on Maltento, a Cape Town company that processes organic by-products like spent brewery grain and fruit/vegetable pulp. The study argues that this circular economy approach reduces landfill reliance, lowers greenhouse gas emissions, and decreases dependency on volatile global imports of soy and fishmeal. In 2021, Maltento processed approximately 6,000 tonnes of organics, creating jobs and providing a more stable price for protein derivatives.

The waste sector in Cape Town consists of 258 companies, with a significant majority (53%) being micro-enterprises. The sector's focus areas are led by e-waste, metal, and plastic recovery, while the broader Cape Town economy is noted to have a GDP of R312Bn and 1.6Mn employed persons.

The water sector in Cape Town comprises 157 companies, with a significant concentration of micro-enterprises (48%) and a total annual revenue reaching a maximum of R7.6 billion. The sector's workforce includes 9,020 employees, contributing to a city-wide GDP of R312 billion.

The document highlights the funding gap for green small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa, noting that while the country requires significant annual investment to meet net zero and NDC goals, there is a low risk appetite for early-stage funding. It presents the FNF GreenPitch Challenge as a mechanism to source investment pipelines and support SMME investment readiness. As a specific example, it profiles BioAge, a 2023 pre-growth winner and agri-biotech startup producing the organic fertilizer Nitro-Gro, which aligns with sustainable agriculture market opportunities to improve soil health and crop resilience.

The document highlights a gap in South Africa's climate finance landscape, where a low risk appetite for early-stage green SMMEs coincides with a lack of investment-ready pipelines. It presents the FNF GreenPitch Challenge as a mechanism to address this by sourcing pipelines and supporting SMME investment readiness. The case of STROOM, a women-owned electric cargo bike enterprise, illustrates the potential for micro-mobility to reduce operational costs by over 80% and create jobs in township and rural markets.

The document details a project facilitated by the Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) where Global Energy installed an anaerobic digestion plant at Rennie Farms. The project converts 1.5 tonnes of daily vegetable waste into biogas for combined heat and power, as well as digestate for soil enhancement and irrigation water. The initiative resulted in R319,740 annual savings in landfill fees and averted 876 tonnes of fossil greenhouse gas emissions per year.