Contesting the colour of a Just Transition in South Africa
- Jacklyn Cock
Reliant on heavy industry and coal-fuelled electricity, South Africa is one of the most carbon intense economies in the world.
The Government has made commitments to reduce carbon emissions but is simultaneously promoting the expansion of coal. As resistance to coal is growing, a transformative approach to Just Transition has the potential to overcome differences that currently constrain unified action.
Two new coal-fired power stations, among the largest in the world, are being built in South Africa. Another 10 smaller ones are planned as well as 40 new coal mines, most of them in Mpumalanga, on some of the most fertile land in South Africa. This adds to the country鈥檚 1,600 existing coal mines. At the same time, resistance to coal is growing, taking new organizational forms, tapping into new sources of power and adopting new innovative strategies and tactics. In this context, a new transformative approach towards the Just Transition has the potential to unify and strengthen a range of different struggles.
Driving a Just Transition: An incipient Red-Green alliance
The alliance between the labour and environmental movements, a so-called 鈥渞ed-green鈥 alliance, could form a powerful driver for a transformative Just Transition. In 2010, South 第一吃瓜网 labour鈥娾斺妕hrough the 鈥娾斺奱nd environmental justice groups attempted to establish such an alliance. Over the following five years, and with COSATU backing, efforts were made to educate the public on the social impacts of climate change (such as rising food and electricity prices, water shortages鈥) and to push through a transformative energy policy. However, too little attention was paid to the interests of workers in the extractive sector who were most exposed to the short-term social effects of coal phase-out.
, a COSATU affiliate, was increasingly on the defensive, arguing that mine closures, falling coal prices, mechanization, demands from environmental activists to 鈥渒eep the coal in the hole鈥 and the divestment movement were threatening the livelihoods of some 90,000 coal miners. Another COSATU affiliate, the , expressed the fear that the notion of a Just Transition is 鈥渃lass-blind鈥. In contrast to NUM, it strongly promoted the notion of energy democracy as a building block towards an alternative future.
This involved reclaiming the energy sector as part of 鈥渢he commons鈥, meaning social ownership and democratic control. More generally, those from within COSATU who were involved in the alliance, were criticized for being too focused on the nature, causes and effects of climate change instead of the content and modalities of a Just Transition.
More recently, differences between labour and environmental activists resurfaced over two issues: the closure of coal-fired power plants and the extension of the privatized renewable energy programme. The labour movement is increasingly adamant that there should be no job losses in the name of a Just Transition, while the environmental movement is increasingly adamant about the closure of coal mines and coal-fired power stations.
Red-Green tensions
In March 2018, NUMSA obtained an urgent court interdict to block the public electricity utility Eskom from signing renewable energy contracts with 27 independent power producers. NUMSA argued that the contracts would lead to a rise in electricity prices that would be detrimental to the working class. Furthermore, Eskom would require fewer coal to produce electricity. In turn, this would lead to the closure of coal-fired power plants, resulting in the loss of some 30,000 jobs.
Environmental groups reacted in a variety of different ways to this, emphasizing the importance of renewable energy鈥娾斺奺ven if privatized鈥娾斺奱nd the negative environmental and health impacts of coal. They also pointed to the high financial costs of the two new coal-fired power plants Medupi and Kusile, which are at least ZAR 180 billion each (USD 152 billion). , stating that it was 鈥渁 move to sabotage renewable energy in favour of coal [which] stands in the way of progress. [Whereas] the reality is that renewable energy creates new sustainable opportunities that will grow the green economy and enable a just transition away from coal. A just transition is not a nice-to-have, it is imperative鈥. An editorial in referred to NUMSA鈥檚 court action as a 鈥渟hort sighted and futile鈥 and as an 鈥渁ttempt to suppress the growth of renewable energy generation鈥. , stating that they were 鈥渘ot against RE [renewable energy]. On the contrary, [they] are fighting for a socially owned RE sector, a sector under public, community or collective ownership and designed to put people before profit鈥.
Constraints on unified action
These difficulties in establishing a 鈥渞ed-green鈥 alliance are often presented as highlighting the existence of different鈥娾斺奱nd even conflicting鈥娾斺妘nderstandings of what a Just Transition should stand for. These vary from a minimalist, defensive understanding that emphasizes the need to protect vulnerable workers through reformist change through green jobs, social dialogue, retraining and consultation, to a more transformative understanding that promotes a radically different production and consumption model, and that paves the way for a new democratic, ethical and ecological brand of socialism.
Yet these two narratives could be a false binary. While addressing the climate crisis is in the long-term interests of labour, in the short run, extractive industry workers鈥 immediate needs must be met This implies greater attention to strategic rather than principled positions, in other words to the modalities of a Just Transition. The labour movement must own the process, undertake research on alternative job creation and formulate clear demands on the state. It must challenge dominant conceptions of a Just Transition that re-packages capitalism through notions like the 鈥済reen economy鈥, or 鈥渟ustainable鈥 and 鈥済reen capitalism鈥, bringing the efficiency of the market to bear on nature and its reproduction.
In closing
The critical question is 鈥淲hat would a Just Transition look like?鈥 Effective resistance from below to drive a transformative Just Transition requires a new political imaginary, a clear vision of a world beyond capitalism. This means moving beyond 鈥渄enunciatory analyses鈥 to ask ourselves 鈥渨hat do we want?鈥
There is no blueprint for a democratic Just Transition away from fossil fuel capitalism. Such an alternative has to be built from the bottom up in a process of democratic participation led by the labour movement. At present the idea of a Just Transition is an empty space鈥娾斺奿t is up to us to give it content and strategic direction. Change is inevitable. As Jason Moore writes, 鈥. Our challenge is to ensure that the change is just.
Jacklyn Cock is an academic activist, Professor Emerita in Sociology and Honorary Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa involved in research on a Just Transition. She has written extensively on environmental, gender and militarization issues. Her latest books are , and .
This think piece is part of the - an initiative that maps different narratives of the Just Transition concept. Highlighting the importance of equity and justice in tackling climate change.