We are calling on the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to exclude new fossil fuel finance and place climate justice at the centre of the just transition.
#PublicFinance4Climate – Stop funding fossil fuels and invest in a climate-just future!
South Africa is the 13th highest emitter of green house gases and faces some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The country’s public finance institution, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, has a mandate for inclusive and sustainable growth to meet our pressing socioeconomic challenges. Yet their continued investment in fossil fuels can be costly and polluting.
Public finance institutions can be powerful forces in driving a just transition to renewable energy away from fossil fuels. They are responsible for investing in a clean energy future with social, economic and climate justice at the heart of the transition.
Continued fossil fuel finances cost the South African budget more in terms of stranded assets and worsening impacts of the climate crisis. We need a people-centred just transition that leaves no worker or community behind.
We are calling on the DBSA to:
New investments in fossil fuels will limit South Africa’s ability to effectively tackle the climate crisis. Instead, the country’s public funds and institutions can deliver on a just transition that ensures nobody is left behind towards a low carbon and climate resilient future.
350Africa is calling on the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to publically commit to not funding Thabametsi coal-fired power station.
The impacts of climate change are being felt in South Africa today more than ever, and developing another power plant in a water-stressed region stands to threaten communities living in Lephalale. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, no new coal infrastructure should be built.
While we welcome the Development Bank’s investments in renewable energy initiatives, these positive steps risk being undermined by support for coal infrastructure. Instead, DBSA can play a bigger role in scaling up action on climate change and delivering on the ambitions that South Africa committed to during the global climate talks held in Paris in 2015.
The Life After Coal campaign has made great strides towards stopping Thabametsi and other coal-fired power station projects from going ahead, and we are joining this struggle, focusing on the institutions financing Thabametsi.
We’re calling on the DBSA to commit to not financing Thabametsi coal-fired power plant. It is an opportunity for them to stand out and be a leader amongst financiers in South Africa, and not waiver from fulfilling their development aims of improving affordable energy access for all South Africans.
Add your name to this petition!
350Africa is calling on the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to publically commit to not funding Thabametsi coal-fired power station because of the devastating effects this will have in Lephalale, Limpopo, South Africa.
Emissions from Thabametsi are going to be far worse than Eskom’s newest coal-fired power stations, Medupi and Kusile, and even worse than some of the country’s older power plants. Thabametsi should not even be considered because it uses some of the most polluting coal-burning technologies, with a contribution to climate change to match. What is worse, is that the effects of coal on many South Africans are insurmountable. Poor health, conflict, broken homes are but some of the effects of coal.
While we applaud the DBSA’s backing of renewable energy initiatives in South Africa, these positive steps run the risk of being undermined by pouring money into projects like Thabametsi. Renewable energy like wind and solar is not only cleaner but cheaper. Renewable energy works.
We’re calling for a shift in South Africa’s energy system and that begins with putting a stop to plans for any new coal infrastructure. This May, your petition will be delivered to the DBSA as part of a wider regional movement for a coal-free Africa.
Take a minute to send a tweet to the DBSA asking about their fossil fuel investments
@DBSA we need to embark on a #JustTransition, and we need #PublicFinance to do so! It’s time to commit to a fossil fuel exclusion policy #PublicFinance4Climate
@DBSA how are you putting people at the centre of the #JustTransition? Is #PublicFinance going to be transparent to the public? Establish a civil society forum #CSF to allow meaningful engagement on these questions #Publicfinance4Climate
Joint letter from the Life After Coal campaign and Fair Finance Coalition Southern Africa following up on civil society demand to participate in and give input to the Just Energy Transition Partnership Deal.
Nedbank released an updated Energy Policy and Climate Change Position Statement that plans on phasing out their support of the fossil fuel industry
Steering public finance towards funding a just transition that supports systems anchored on renewable energy
2020 has tested us in ways we couldn’t predict. From the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, to unprecedented climate disasters uprooting frontline communities, millions of families are fighting with all they have to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry continues to make billions at the expense of our planet.
The Thabametsi coal-fired power plant that was to be developed in Lephalale, Limpopo, has officially been withdrawn by its sponsors; Marubeni and KEPCO. The plant won’t be built.
The Finance In Common Summit (FIC) is an opportunity for public finance institutions like the DBSA and Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to strengthen their climate commitments through a fossil fuel exclusion policy.
Now is the time to identify a wide range of programmes to boost the long-term welfare of South African households and businesses. The urgent focus should be on building an inclusive economy underpinned by social ownership that generates decent, well-paying jobs.
How well do SA’s two developmental finance institutions, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Development Bank of South Africa, measure up to best-practice international standards? Not well at all, according to their published documents.
