Power, coalitions and institutional change in South African climate policy

Rennkamp, Britta

doi:10.1080/14693062.2019.1591936

Cited by 28 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Section 2 establishes the context of South Africa's MEC as a descriptive and theoretical starting point for understanding the historical and contemporary development of the country's energyand carbon-intensive political economy 3 Similarly, there are few academic studies that have contextualised the tax within a broader policy and political economy context. The exceptions include Tyler and Hochstetler (2021), Tyler and Mgoduso (2022), Rennkamp (2019) and Baker et al (2015). In tackling this research gap on the political economy of South Africa's carbon tax, my study contributes to the following overlapping bodies of literature.…”

Section: Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In tackling this research gap on the political economy of South Africa's carbon tax, my study contributes to the following overlapping bodies of literature. First, to the literature on climate politics (Tyler and Cohen 2020;Rennkamp 2019;Trollip and Boulle 2017;Tyler and Hochstetler 2021;Winkler and Marquard 2010). Second, to grey and academic literature on the evolution of the country's coal industry and the role of fossil fuel subsidies, including the 'just transition' as an emerging national discourse (Burton et al 2018a;Burton et al 2018b;Pant et al 2020;IISD 2020).…”

Section: Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Political Economy of South Africa’s Carbon Tax

Baker¹

2022

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The subject of carbon pricing is rising up the global policy agenda, as countries take action in the aftermath of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties 26 summit in November 2021. South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have enacted a carbon tax to date, and, globally speaking, was ahead of the curve when it started to consider its implementation at the start of 2010. With a historically energy-intensive and carbon-intensive economy as a core feature of its minerals-energy complex, South Africa is the world’s 14th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the largest emitter on the continent. Its electricity grid is the world’s most carbon-intensive, and its primary energy consumption is ranked 17th globally. While the country’s gross domestic product is the 30th highest in the world, it is also one of the most unequal. It has a legacy of socioeconomic and political exclusion, and marginalisation created by the apartheid history that has persisted in the decades since the democratic transition in 1994. This paper asks to what extent and in what way has South Africa’s political economy shaped the process and implementation of its carbon tax? In answering this question, the report explores and analyses the design and implementation of the tax; the key criticisms to which it has been subjected; the effectiveness of the tax, not least in light of the considerable allowances and exemptions that have been included in its design; the relationship between the carbon tax and other existing climate change policies; and the potential relevance of South Africa’s experience for other countries on the continent.

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Section: Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Economy of South Africa’s Carbon Tax

Baker¹

2022

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“…10 The Energy Intensive Users Group called the prospect of a tax a 'looming Sword of Damocles for investors', noting that it made little sense in South Africa where no electricity options existed outside Eskom, a position supported by the Department of Trade and Industry against its fellow ministry. 11 As a regulated utility, Eskom would just pass the tax through to consumers (Rennkamp 2019).…”

Section: Climate Policy Implementation Floundersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutionalising decarbonisation in South Africa: navigating climate mitigation and socio-economic transformation

Tyler

Hochstetler

2021

Environmental Politics

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Strong climate institutional governance is necessary for countries to meet their international climate mitigation commitments. This article shows that while South Africa steadily created climate institutions up to 2011, these failed to take hold in the following years. Also, despite the systemically critical energy sector dominating the emissions profile, these climate institutions had no purchase over it. This situation is largely due to South Africa's political economy of energy, which gave powerful actors the sustained ability to block meaningful institutionalisation of decarbonisation in the energy sector. As a result, South Africa's climate institutions play few of the roles expected for successful institutionalization of climate action, with energy institutions instead playing a shadow climate governance role. This case suggests that conceptions of climate institutional governance in countries where single sectors dominate in emissions and power must accommodate the roles of institutions affecting climate outcomes despite this not being their primary objective.

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“…[and] institutional agility’ has led to a ‘piecemeal and fragmented response’ (Interviewee-3). The lack of institutional coherence (Rennkamp, 2019) due to the absence of a common vision (Interviewee-1) shows that, at the conception level, South Africa has not been able to envision a coherent and unifying long-term vision that can accommodate all interest groups while addressing climate change and reducing coal dependence. There are pockets of excellence in the bureaucracy, but, due to lack of political leadership, the ‘political has become institutional’ (Interviewee-2).…”

Section: South Africa: Divergent Interests and Dispersed Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zooming out, it is evident that the institutional apparatus of South African climate policy is fragmented, with leading government departments taking charge in separate processes, without support from other departments (Rennkamp, 2019). The core that should hold the piecemeal and fragmented responses together is at best formative or worst missing.…”

Section: South Africa: Divergent Interests and Dispersed Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Capacity building for proportionate climate policy: Lessons from India and South Africa

Upadhyaya¹,

Shrivastava²,

Gorti

et al. 2020

International Political Science Review

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Countries must develop their capacity to credibly revise their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) proportionate to the global climate goal. This paper argues that long-lasting capacity is necessarily embedded in the institutions governing cooperation between state and non-state actors. This institutional capacity for cooperation is determined by the two interactive processes of conception and calibration, where the state plays a definitive role in mediating between competing interests. In conception, the state uses its discretionary power to set the long-term vision, whereas during calibration it exercises flexibility to accommodate concerns and capacity of other actors. We conclude that proportionality of policy response is better understood, and achieved, through the convergence of both these processes. Drawing on climate policy experiences of India and South Africa, we recommend that successful implementation and enhancement of NDCs would require a greater emphasis on capacity building for calibration in developing countries.

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Power, coalitions and institutional change in South African climate policy

Cited by 28 publications

References 19 publications

The Political Economy of South Africa’s Carbon Tax

The Political Economy of South Africa’s Carbon Tax

Institutionalising decarbonisation in South Africa: navigating climate mitigation and socio-economic transformation

Capacity building for proportionate climate policy: Lessons from India and South Africa

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