Just transition transaction in South Africa: an innovative way to finance accelerated phase out of coal and fund social justice

ABSTRACT A just transition transaction (JTT) in South Africa aims to address complex challenges of financing a transition away from coal, and social justice. Accelerated decarbonisation of electricity is essential for mitigation globally and in SA. However, the national utility Eskom, a state-owned enterprise, is in crisis with major operational, structural and financial problems, including legacy debt of €25bn. How and to what extent can a just transition transaction catalyse deep, structural change that is required in SA’s electricity system and promote social justice? What can we learn from the case study of a JTT about transition finance? The architecture of the JTT includes a blended finance vehicle, combining international concessionary and domestic commercial finance. Finance enables transition if it respects certain principles, promotes ambitious decarbonisation and assures compliance. A tough problem is whether such finance is provided at activity – or entity-level. We explore options for watertight remedies to ensure compliance with ambitious climate change action, though these merit further research. The innovation proposed to fund social justice is that concessional value provides significant and predictable flow of funds into a Just Transition Fund. The JTT partially addresses Eskom’s financial challenges, and thereby the strain on the country’s fiscus against a background of increasing public debt. Significant mitigation on the scale of 1–1.5 Gt CO2-eq over thirty years is achievable. The transaction may be of wider interest: Emerging economies with high coal dependence and socio-economic risk during energy transition might translate lessons from South Africa’s JTT for their own contexts.