16 September 2019
Changing course: How can South Africa’s financial sector facilitate a just transition to a low-carbon economy?
Extreme inequality is bad for people and bad for business. It causes instability, violence and uncertainty, slowing growth and diminishing levels of trust and social cohesion. The effects of climate change are already disproportionately impacting vulnerable economies, and deepening global inequality.
South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. It is also extremely vulnerable to climate change: the government’s 2018 communication to the UNFCCC noted that over the period 1931-2015, SA warmed at twice the global rate of temperature increase.
The urgent need for a transition to a low-carbon economy to address the climate emergency is also an unprecedented opportunity for new ways to tackle the development challenges that South Africa faces.
Just Share is convening finance and energy experts to propose and debate practical, achievable steps – big and small – that the financial sector can take to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, without stranding vulnerable communities and deepening inequality.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism: What it means for the Just Transition in Africa
Nicolas J. Firzli, L.L.M.
Director-General, World Pensions Council