Climate 360 Mpumalanga

The event was opened by master of ceremonies Albertus Louw, a South African television personality and award-winning presenter of the long-running environmental TV show 50/50.

In his welcome address, Augustin Tshiani, head of economic cooperation and infrastructure for the European Union Delegation to South Africa, said Climate 360 Mpumalanga’s aim was to inspire active collaboration on climate change-related challenges.

Mpumalanga constitutes 6.5% of South Africa’s land area, and is divided into three districts – Ehlanzeni, Nkangala and Gert Sibande – and 17 municipalities, said JM Mnisi, chief director of trade and sector development in the province’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

Although GreenCape began as a non-profit organisation that drives the widespread adoption of economically viable green economy activities and solutions in the Western Cape, it has expanded to become a national organisation, said Jack Radmore, the organisation’s energy programme manager and climate finance lead.

Born in Mpumalanga, South Africa, adventurer and climate change activist Sibusiso Vilane started his career as a game ranger with no inclination at all that he would become the first black African to summit the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest.

The European Union-funded WWF Youth Climate Champions Programme, which took place earlier in 2022, was very successful, said Hlengiwe Radebe, civil engagement officer at the WWF South Africa.

The panel discussion raised many challenges.

Despite 2022’s rise in coal prices because of Europe’s energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, coal, as a fossil fuel, is a dying commodity, said Mashudu Masutha, senior programmes officer at the non-governmental organisation Southern Africa Resource Watch.

German government cooperation with South Africa began just ahead of the dawn of democracy in the southern African country. The German Development Agency (GIZ) has offices in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, and 261 staff in the region, covering 48 projects and 12 “service packages”, says Navina Sanchez, the agency’s Just South Africa project director.

The French Development Agency (AFD) is “100% committed” to the Paris Agreement, and to tackling the social and climate-related issues that emanate from the switch to a low-carbon economy, said Anda David, the AFD’s senior researcher on equalities.

GET.invest, a European programme that mobilises investment in renewable energy in developing countries, uses a Team Europe approach to its work, said GET.invest senior advisor Berthold Schirm.