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Coal and Energy in South Africa

Considering a Just Transition

Lochner Marais editor Phillippe Burger editor Stuart Paul Denoon-Stevens editor Mal ne Campbell editor Deidr van Rooyen editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Edinburgh University Press

Published:30th Nov '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Coal and Energy in South Africa cover

Assesses the coal industry, theoretical debates about coal, and government's role in a just transition and sustainability Made up of 4 chapters laying the conceptual framework and 14 chapters describing the local consequences of mining for a South African medium-sized town Analyses the current situation of the mining industry: the inequalities it creates, its role in environmental sustainability and health and the implication of mining practices for business and local government Discusses the possible consequences of mine closures and how a just energy transition can be ensured Asks why the mining industry, government and unions promote the open mining towns Coal and Energy in South Africa: Considering a Just Transition investigates the consequences of shifting social responsibilities, new inequalities and the sustainability concerns created by the likely energy transition in Africa to end the fossil-fuel era. Focusing on the local realities in a growing coal and energy town of South Africa, Emalahleni, it explores whether a just transition from coal-generated energy is possible and what the local implications will be of this global restructuring of the energy sector.

"This volume was an eye opener. The authors in this work of genuinely thorough scholarship skillfully use their South African mining story to develop bigger arguments about the complexity of transitioning away from a dominant resource economy. While the dramatic history of South Africa and its outsized mining sector is unique, the set of questions which arise is not. The town they focus on is still booming, but other communities already experience post-mining life, and, as the editors say, 'nobody plans for decline'. Planning for decline is especially hard when coping with growth requires all attention of local government, when post-apartheid elites want to finally benefit, and business people do not see an end to the boom. Envisioning what a transition would look like, and preparing for this, is hard. Turning such vision into a strategy is even harder. If we want such a transition to be more than economic survival, and more than avoiding environmental catastrophe, i.e. if we strive for fairness in the process and prosperous communities as a result, then the dimensions of the challenge are hard to overestimate. As the authors note, the reverberations of unregulated and unanticipated closure after a boom can span generations. Neo-liberal ideologies and mining companies anxious to avoid responsibility for communities they used to control, as well as workers desperately in need of opportunities, do not prevent the search for a just transition, however. The analyses in this book reveal, beyond complexity and despair, many signs of hope and pathways to brighter post-mining futures." -Kristof Van Assche, University of Alberta

ISBN: 9781474487061

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

260 pages