Reporting the broken Just Energy Transition
Tracking the transition
Much of South Africa has been seized by galeforce winds, driving rain and other kinds of erratic weather in recent days. Wherever you’re reading this, we hope you’re warm and safe.
Writing this newsletter from Johannesburg (Oz) and Cape Town (Jo-Anne), we’re acutely aware that the extreme weather we’ve experienced recently is likely to become the norm as climate change continues to supercharge storms, droughts and heatwaves in South Africa and around the world.
The Climate Media Lab (CML) is underway. By the time you read this, we’ll have concluded two seminars: an introduction to climate science and a “campfire chat” with iconic science and climate writer Leonie Joubert. And stories are beginning to form and land in newsrooms.
The aim of the CML to encourage more evidence-based climate storytelling in South Africa and to help bring climate stories in from the margins, as climate impacts are key elements in stories on so many topics, from energy to health, finance, labour, infrastructure, and political power.
The first CML story to land was by Tulani Ngwenya, for Oxpeckers (see pic accompanying this story). It traces how coal plants are remaining operational long past their planned decommissioning dates, how this dials back South Africa’s climate commitments, and how communities are left behind where the transition proceeds.
Tulani’s gritty piece, with wide-ranging reporting, tackles the compromises that occur when policy promises do not bear fruit in national energy choices, nor for people’s lives, livelihoods and health.
Elsewhere, the transition continues to face scrutiny. See our “Did You Know” section below for some recent stories.
Santa Marta brings hope – but without SA
The Santa Marta summit was the first major international conference focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels. Hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, it brought together nearly 60 countries to discuss practical pathways beyond coal, oil and gas, outside the slower consensus-driven UN climate process.
Unfortunately, South Africa did not attend the summit, missing the opportunity to join a new global power bloc leading the energy transition.
Daisy Dunne’s analysis for Carbon Brief breaks down the summit’s major outcomes. It includes plans for drawing up national roadmaps to phase out fossil fuels, and new work on fossil fuel subsidies and trade. The role that science played was highly impressive. A global science panel was launched to support the transition, and Irene Vélez Torres, a former academic who is now Colombia’s environment minister, told journalists:
“We need to go back to science and base our decisions on science.”
On the topic of academics, climate change and the media, it would be remiss not to give a shoutout to The Conversation Africa. The site is dedicated to making academic expertise and research on climate, environment, and a host of other topics accessible to general readers. You can read more of it’s excellent climate coverage here.
Resources and opportunities
Whether you’re seeking facts on climate science, the Just Energy Transition, or any other climate-related issue, our Climate Reporting Guide for SA Media is freely available, and we’d love your feedback. Email jo@fossilfreesa.org.za.
Covering Climate Now (CCN) is offering a free webinar to journalists across the world on how to identify, question, investigate and report climate solutions.
CCN is also offering a series of free online workshops for journalists seeking to improve their social media skills and and grow their online audience.
National Geographic Society, in partnership with The Climate Pledge, is now accepting applications for the “Illuminating Climate Solutions” funding opportunity. This supports storytellers and media creators producing impactful stories focused on climate resilience, innovation, and solutions across the world.
The Pulitzer Center’s Underreported Stories in Sub‑Saharan Africa programme welcomes proposals from reporters, photographers, and others on issues such as climate resilience, water and sanitation, land degradation, and coastal erosion.
Did you know?
We have read many recent climate stories that are are worth sharing.
A Daily Maverick opinion piece cites a groundWork report finding that the JET is failing both communities and South Africa’s climate targets in favour of the Minerals Energy Complex, a powerful alliance of fossil-fuel industries and state departments.
Bhekisisa explores the “the climate story hiding in your lungs” – the growing public health consequences of rising heat and air pollution.
Two recent pieces from our CML mentor Sheree Bega are essential reading: one on how mining booms continue to bypass local communities, and another on why Africa’s rangelands may become one of the continent’s biggest climate opportunities.
And the latest edition of Climate Current from another CML mentor, Enoch Sithole, continues to track major developments across the continent.
