This presentation on an alternative financing framework for a worker-centred just transition was delivered on Day 2 of the 2nd Wits Global Climate Change Conference, held in Cape Town at the off-campus Protea Hotel from 4–5 September 2025. It presents an alternative approach to financing South Africa’s transition towards a climate-resilient, green economy, placing workers, communities, and the public interest at the centre.
A worker-centred just transition
The presentation critiques South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) for its narrow focus on energy and reliance on private and international finance. It proposes an economy-wide approach that extends to transport, food, and agriculture and treats the transition as a public good. The framework links climate action to structural transformation, decent work, social equity, and workers’ rights.
Financing the transition
A central proposal is a Promotional Fiscal Policy supported by a Climate Response Fund (CRF) of approximately R100 billion annually. The fund would provide long-term financing over 30–50 years for climate mitigation, adaptation, and social equity. Potential financing sources include carbon taxes, fuel levies, and reforms to public expenditure and revenue mobilisation.
Supporting workers and communities
The framework incorporates worker priorities including employment creation, skills development, relocation support, decent work, healthcare, retirement benefits, and a basic income grant. It also promotes equitable access to land, water, and energy while strengthening governance, combating corruption, and directing climate-related revenues towards transition objectives.
Reforming finance and institutions
The presentation proposes changes to monetary and financial policy, including green credit differentiation, stronger climate-risk measurement, and regulation that supports transition-aligned investment. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) should play a stronger public-interest role by providing patient and de-risked capital. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is identified as a key institution requiring recapitalisation, diversified financing instruments, and governance reforms to support long-term social and environmental objectives.
Conclusion
The framework argues that existing climate finance mechanisms are insufficient to deliver a genuinely just transition. It calls for a living, adaptable financing framework that can guide industrial policy, infrastructure and energy investment, regulate private finance, and address social and regional inequalities. Ultimately, it seeks to establish a more inclusive and transformative growth path for South Africa.