The National Climate Change Response White Paper requires the development of Sector Jobs Resilience Plans (SJRPs). These plans aim to protect vulnerable groups that may lose their jobs or livelihoods as a result of climate change impacts, related either to physical effects or to the transition to alternatives.The proposals for the SJRPs, and the evidence supporting them, are presented as a suite of related documents. These are a main report, the SJRP Toolbox: Summary for policy makers; and proposals for five value chains that seem particularly likely to be affected: coal, metals, petroleum-based transport, agriculture and tourism.

National Employment Vulnerability Assessment: Analysis of potential climate-change related impacts and vulnerable groups

The SJRP Toolbox: Summary for policy makers

Sector Jobs Resilience Plan: Coal value chain

Sector Jobs Resilience Plan: Metals value chain

Sector Jobs Resilience Plan: Petroleum-based transport

Sector Jobs Resilience Plan: Agriculture value chain

Sector Jobs Resilience Plan: Tourism value chain

The research for this project was conducted by Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) for the Departments of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries and Trade Industry, and funded by GIZ.

TIPS research team: Neva Makgetla, Nokwanda Maseko, Gaylor Montmasson-Clair and Muhammed Patel.

This research project for the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition examines the vulnerability of South African trade to evolving climate change legislation. It aims to shed light on the trade-related risks faced by South Africa as a result of the global transition to a low-carbon economy. From a trade and industrial perspective, this transition has implications on the composition and dynamics of entire value chains. This concerns what inputs are accessed, the processes that underlie production, what goods and services are produced, as well as what happens to these products post-consumption. The research is available in a number of related documents.  A main report on The global climate change regime and its impacts on South Africa's trade and competitiveness: case studies on various sectors; detailed briefs that explore South Africa’s trade risks with different countries; and key data in Excel format. 

Main report

The global climate change regime and its impacts on South Africa's trade and competitiveness

Sector studies

Managing economic risks linked to climate change: Securing market access for South African wines

Country briefs

Climate change and trade risk: South Africa's trade with China

Climate change and trade risk: South Africa's trade with India

Climate change and trade risk: South Africa's trade with Japan

Climate change and trade risk: South Africa's trade with Russia

Climate change and trade risk: South Africa's trade with South Korea

Climate change and trade risk: South Africa's trade with the European Union

Climate change policy framework: key data (Excel spreadsheet)

South Africa: Climate change policy framework

China: Climate change policy framework

India: Climate change policy framework

Japan: Climate change policy framework

Russia: Climate change policy framework

South Korea: Climate change policy framework

European Union: Climate change policy framework

COVID-19 is having a massive disruptive effect on the local and global economy. Since the start of the outbreak, TIPS has prepared and commissioned a number of research reports and policy briefs on the economic impact of the pandemic, and is now producing a weekly Tracker on the economy and the pandemic. TIPS has also held seminars and participated in several panel discussions on the economic impact of COVID-19.

TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic

• 21 September - 4 October 2020
• 7 September - 20 September 2020
• 24 August - 6 September 2020
• 10 August - 23 August 2020
• 27 July - 9 August 2020
• 13 July - 26 July 2020
• 29 June - 12 July 2020
• Week 22-28 June 2020
• Week 15-21 June 2010
• Week 8-14 June 2020
• Week 1-7 June 2020
• Week 25-31 May 2020
• Week 18-24 May 2020
• Week 11-17 May 2020

Policy Briefs

• Towards a reconstruction programme
• A case for water and sanitation in South Africa's post-lockdown economic recovery stimulus package
• A case for renewable energy in South Africa’s post-lockdown economic recovery stimulus package
• Mapping the coverage of stimulus measures in response to COVID-19: What risks remain?
• Reopening the economy: Learning from success
• Macroeconomic response to COVID-19
• COVID-19 and Cape Town: What went wrong?
• Reopening the economy: Obstacles, opportunities and risks
• COVID-19: The South African steel industry
• COVID-19: The South African auto industry
• COVID-19 and small business support: South Africa needs a credit guarantee scheme
• The ratings downgrade
• COVID-19 and the economy: Lockdowns, recession and policy responses
• Coronavirus: impact of an economic slowdown in China on the South African economy

Working papers

• A case for water and sanitation in South Africa's post-lockdown economic recovery stimulus package

Media articles

• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 24 August 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 11 August 2020)
• What wine industry can do to keep its fizz amid rising threats (Business Day – 5 August 2020)
• There’s no turning back the clock after Covid – we need a reconstruction programme (Daily Maverick – 4 August 2020
• TIPS: Towards a reconstruction programme (Engineering News – 3 August 2020)
• Focus On Water Infrastructure Should Be Central To South Africa's COVID Recovery Strategy (OOSAKAnews – 29 July 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 28 July 2020)
• Grapes of wrath: South Africa could lose 90% of its wine producers due to Covid-19 ban, expert warns (News 24 – 23 July 2020)
• Covid-19 infrastructure response should focus on water and sanitation (Engineering News – 21 July 2020)
• Out-of-control Covid-19 harms economy more than restrictions (Business Day – 20 July 2020)
• TIPS Paper: A case for water and sanitation in South Africa’s post-lockdown economic recovery stimulus package (Engineering News – 17 July 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 13 July 2020)
• Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission seen as key to navigating South Africa’s ‘just transition’  (Engineering News – 7 July 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 30 June 2020)
• U-turn on lockdown will not free up the poor (Business Day – 22 June 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 22 June 2020)
• Pandemic dashes hopes for a domestic steel sector turnaround (Engineering News – 12 June 2020)
• Municipalities emerge from lockdown in poor health (Business Day – 8 June 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 8 June 2020)
• How Cape Town became SA’s Covid epicentre (Business Day – 28 May 2020)
• Why QE is the best way to fund stimulus needed to get SA through Covid-19 crisis (Business Day – 4 June 2020)
• Placing green stimulus at heart of South Africa’s postpandemic recovery would yield big co-benefits (Engineering News – 4 June 2020)
• TIPS Tracker: The economy and the pandemic (Engineering News – 1 June 2020)
• How a post-COVID-19 revival could kickstart Africa’s free trade area (The Conversation – 26 May 2020)
• We can go green if we don’t let the crisis go to waste (Business Day – 26 May 2020)
• Tips launches Covid-19 weekly monitor (Engineering News – 15 May 2020)
• With the right approach to easing lockdown, two-thirds of South Africans could go back to work (Business Day – 11 May 2020)
• 'We need level 2, fast' (Business Day – 10 May 2020)
• Western Cape Covid-19 infections out of control, warns economist (Times Live – 8 May 2020)
• Tips webinar hopes that Phase 3 holds more promise for economic recovery (Engineering News – 30 April 2020)
• Government should offer debt guarantees (Mail & Guardian – 16 April 2020)
• Risk-adjusted return to work a better idea than blunt limitations (Business Day – 27 April 2020)
• Even essential industries have suffered reduced demand (Engineering News – 24 April 2020)
• Steel industry in financial distress because of lockdown (Business Report – 19 April 2020)
• Organisation calls for govt assistance to ‘reshape’ steel industry post-lockdown (Engineering News – 17 April 2020)
• Risk-management techniques can help plot lockdown exit (Business Day – 13 April 2020)
• News Analysis: Lockdown decision is fraught with danger (Business Day – 9 April)
• Policy demands on South Africa ‘contradictory’ in the wake of downgrades (Engineering News – 8 April 2020)
• The Covid-19 crisis and the climate: A bittersweet moment (Daily Maverick – 3 April 2020)
• How we can make it easier to isolate in crowded communities (Business Day – 30 March 2020)
• Red tape is the biggest threat to coronavirus interventions (Business Day – 16 March 2020)
• Miners in South Africa face 'significant losses' (Mining journal – 16 March2020)
• Lasher lands multimillion-rand order as virus shutters China’s factories (Business Day – 11 March)
• Private sector weighed on by a weak economy and the coronavirus (Business Day – 4 March)
• South Africa miners face major losses if Covid-19 not contained (Mining Technology – 4 March 2020)
• Warning of ‘significant losses’ in South African mining industry if coronavirus outbreak is not contained soon (Mining Weekly – 3 March 2020)

These working papers are part of workstream 6 on Regional Growth and Development within the Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) project, a three-year partnership between UNU-WIDER and the South African government aimed at improving understanding of regional value chains and supporting industrialisation in the SADC region. In year one of the project TIPS produced five papers: lessons from ASEAN; an analysis of local content requirements as a non-tariff barrier; and reviews of three value chains: agro-processing machinery, motorcycle parts and the aftermarket industry, and capital equipment for copper processing.

• Black cat, white cat – lessons to be learnt from ASEAN
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp-2019-26.pdf
  
  
• Charity begins at home – the political economy of non-tariff barriers to trade in Southern Africa
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp-2019-61.pdf
  
  
• Motorcycle parts and aftermarket industry regional value chain in Southern Africa
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp-2019-38.pdf
  
  
• Assessment of demand in agro-processing machinery in the SADC region: A case study of the maize-milling machinery value chain in South Africa and Zambia
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp-2019-70.pdf
  
  
• Moving up the copper value chain in Southern Africa
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp-2019-52.pdf

• Initial considerations for the creation of an inter-regional industrial hemp value chain between Malawi and South Africa
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-23.pdf

• Future-proofing the plastics value chain in Southern Africa
  https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-148.pdf

Climate change will have drastic impacts on South Africa’s economy and society, and the need to adapt is urgent. As the country embarks on a just transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally-sustainable economy, an opportunity exists to develop domestic small, green businesses.

This report and five case studies are part of a broader initiative on small business development in South Africa’s climate change space, by TIPS with support and funding from the Government of Flanders. The research comprises a main report, which summarises the research findings on the topic, and five case studies on South African-based entrepreneurs active in the adaptation space: AB Farms, EWEF-SusTech, Loo Afrique, MySmartFarm and Waste Intrique.

Main report

• Small Business Development in the Climate Change Adaptation Space in South Africa

Climate change adaption and small business – case studies

• Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule: Using hydrophonics to enhance food security
• Bulelwa Ntsendwana: Harnessing chemistry for sustainable development and women empowerment
• Rori Mpete: Thinking outside the box – retrofitting water saving in conventional waterborne sanitation systems
• Wolfgang von Loeper: Sustainable farming: ensuring food security while preserving the planet
• Tshego Mpete: Embracing green opportunities in the water sector

Unlocking green jobs in South Africa

The Unlocking Green Jobs: A Catalytic Intervention was a two-year collaboration between the World Wide Fund for Nature, South Africa (WWF-SA) and Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS). Published reports include a synthesis report, Unlocking green jobs in South Africa: A catalytic intervention, which summarises the findings and three three case studies. The reports were produced with the financial assistance of the WWF Nedbank Green Trust and Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Main report

• Unlocking green jobs in South Africa: A catalytic intervention - synthesis report

Case studies

• Essential Amathole: A case study of unlocking green jobs in the bioprospecting sector
• Protecting and unlocking jobs through water stewardship: A case study Linked to the Umbogintwini Industrial Complex, Ethekwini
• Unlocking and retaining jobs in the alien vegetation added value chain through industrial symbiosis: Case study on wood pellets

This series of four papers was commissioned by the Future Industrial Production Technologies Chief Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti). This unit is focused on preparing South African industry for the fourth industrial revolution.

• Framing the concepts that underpin discontinuous technological change, technological capability and absorptive capacity
  This paper takes the form of a literature study on the topic of technological change, innovation and building technological capabilities.
• World Economic Forum and the fourth industrial revolution in South Africa
  This paper focuses on the fourth industrial revolution and the concept as promoted by the World Economic Forum, international consultancies, governments and multinational firms.
• Mapping the meso space that enables technological change, productivity improvement and innovation in the manufacturing sector
  This paper focuses on meso organisations and policies that strengthen the technological capability of the country or an industry to enable change, adaptation and economic resilience.
• Technological change and sustainable mobility: An overview of global trends and South African developments
  This paper focuses on technological change and the developments in the sustainable mobility topic in South Africa.

The Green Economy Coalition (GEC) is the largest global alliance of organisations working on a green economy. The membership spans Asia, Africa, South America, North America and Europe and represents a wide range of interests including the poorest, the environment, business, the United Nations, research and government. Despite its diversity, the coalition is committed to accelerating the transition to green and fair economies. In South Africa, Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and the African Centre for a Green Economy (African Centre www.africancentre.org) are active members of the coalition. The Green Economy Coalition is supported by funding and assistance from the European Union.

TIPS in partnership with the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, based at the University of Johannesburg, and in association with the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), hosting the 2017 Annual Forum in June, 2017. It was supported by the European Union and the Department of Trade and Industry. The theme of the Forum was Industrialisation and Sustainable Growth See Summary report of the Forum below.

GEC is also supporting the production of seven reports. Draft titles of the seven reports in production are:

• Governance for South Africa’s sustainability transition: A critical review, by Gaylor Montmasson-Clair (completed)
• A South African Strategy for Green Trade, by Christopher Wood (completed)
• The role of plantation forestry for promoting sustainability in South Africa, by Struan R. Robertson (completed)
• Nature in South Africa’s transition to sustainability: A stocktake, by Shakespear Mudombi (completed)
• Transforming South Africa’s passenger transport sector for sustainable development in South Africa, by Bhavna Deonarain and Kelello Mashiane (completed)
• Water sustainability in South Africa: Past, present, future, by Shakespear Mudombi
• Building an environmentally-sustainable economy in South Africa, by Gaylor Montmasson-Clair

Reports

• The role of plantation forestry for promoting sustainability in South Africa
• Nature in South Africa's transition to sustainability: A stocktake
• The Green Economy Barometer 2018 South Africa
• A South African strategy for trade in environmental goods
• Governance for South Africa’s sustainability transition: A critical review
• Transforming South Africa’s passenger transport sector for sustainable development in South Africa