Declaration of Support by ClimateWorks Foundation and our partners for South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan

Achieving a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emission and climate resilient development as envisaged by the Paris Climate Agreement requires a “just transition”, which acknowledges the effects on lives and livelihoods, and contributes to eradicating poverty, and advancing the development of developing countries.

The government of South Africa committed to an ambitious pathway towards reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in its Nationally Determined Contributions submission, subject to appropriate financial support and, importantly, premised on enabling a “just transition” for affected communities and regions. South Africa has prepared a Just Energy Investment Plan for 2023 to 2027 to catalyse its efforts, which is also supported by financing through the Just Energy Transition Partnership forged between South Africa and the International Partner Group (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union) at COP26.

Representing the undersigned philanthropic organisations, we offer our support and encouragement to South Africa:

• We acknowledge the efforts of the government to shift towards a low-GHG and more climate resilient energy system in a just and inclusive manner, at a very challenging time.
• We welcome the progress made in 2022 on the development of a JET IP and its release by the Government of South Africa on 4 November.
• We encourage the South African government to continue a process of dynamic engagements with all social partners, including affected communities, civil society, labour movements and the financial sector (local and international) in the ongoing development focus and implementation of the JET IP.
• We encourage South Africa to prioritise and accelerate implementation of its plans to build the foundations for sustained transition towards 2030 and beyond.
• We will explore ways to support the implementation of South Africa’s plans, such as strengthening the implementation capacity and social investment related to the “just” component of the transition and considering focused programmes, including at community and sub-national level, to support South Africa in achieving its JET and broader climate response objectives.

Supported by:

African Climate Foundation
European Climate Foundation
Open Society Foundations
Bezos Earth Fund
Ford Foundation
Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)
Quadrature Climate Foundation
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
Growald Climate Fund
The Rockefeller Foundation
ClimateWorks Foundation
IKEA Foundation
Yellowwoods Social Investments