Exxaro group 1: Willem Van Der Merwe (Exxaro Resources), Joanne Yawitch (CEO: National Business Initiative), Prof Neil Eccles (Acting Chair of Department and Chief Researcher: Unisa Institute for Corporate Citizenship), Prof Narend Baijnath (Unisa Pro-Vice-Chancellor), Prof Godwell Nhamo (Programme Manager: Exxaro Chair in Business & Climate Change at Unisa), Prof Darrell Myrick (Unisa Department of Public Administration), Prof Simon Zadek (Senior Fellow: Global Green Growth Institute and Senior Advisor: International Institute for Sustainable Development) & Mr Stephen Karekezi (Director: African Energy Policy Research Network)
The green economy is inextricably linked to economic growth and global sustainable development.
Since the global financial meltdown of 2008, the concept of a green economy has rapidly garnered attention due to structural flaws in current economic models. And as many economies continue with their struggles to recover, many are considering the possibility of a green economy and discourse in this regard has intensified.
Although some consensus and general direction emerged from Rio+20 (Rio+20 outcomes document entitled The Future We Want) regarding what a green economy entails, the subject still remains contested. As in the early days where the concept of sustainable development was debated at great length, key stakeholders will continue to debate the concept of a green economy to a point where further clarity emerges.
Listing the Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication as one of its key thematic areas, Rio+20 affirmed that there are different approaches, visions, models and tools available for countries to achieve sustainable development, and the green economy is one such important tool. The green economy must also contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the document states.
It is within this context that the Exxaro Chair in Business and Climate Change at Unisa hosted the Exxaro Symposium and Biennial Public Lecture, themed Green Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication in Africa, on 26 October 2012.
Opening the symposium, Prof Narend Baijnath, Unisa’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor, highlighted among other things, South Africa’s Green Economy Accord launched at COP17 last year.
According to government, the accord is one of the most comprehensive social pacts on green jobs in the world. It seeks to build a partnership to create 300 000 new jobs by 2020 in economic activities such as energy generation, manufacturing of products that reduce carbon emissions, farming activities to provide feedstock for biofuels, soil and environmental management and ecotourism.
And while the accord sings hope, some government officials have acknowledged that the transition into the green economy is a process, and that it will require innovations and new technologies. Prof Baijnath believes to accomplish the objectives of the accord, “earth conscious” institutions of higher education have to form strategic links with “earth conscious” businesses in conjunction with government.
“Proponents of the green economy believe it is necessary to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development and lift people and nations out of poverty… The role of higher education in Africa, in contributing to sustainable development and social justice, must of necessity be examined afresh… As Africa is still in the considerably earlier stages of development, institutions of higher education can work to inform policy, create awareness and mobilise communities about the need to safeguard our natural resources.”
Prof Baijnath also said it is important to note that the call to support the green economy will be costly; it will involve new systems, new ways of doing things, and a new culture and consciousness that leads to informed discourse and ethical and green practice.
Mr Stephen Karekezi, Director: African Energy Policy Research Network, spoke on Energy and energy corridors in Africa’s green economy. His presentation focused on renewable energy and associated key benefits, as well as on whether the corridor development concept makes sense for renewable energy options that are often portrayed as quintessential decentralised technologies.
Renewable energy, said Mr Karekezi, is a sound alternative to conventional options such as oil and coal. The associated benefits include, among others, energy security, as renewables are largely inexhaustible; environmental safety, because there are limited harmful gas emissions; and the creation of many local enterprises and jobs in equipment manufacture, construction, installation and in the growing of feedstock for bio-energy installations
Mr Karekezi also presented case studies of geothermal, wind and cogeneration in agro-industries to address the relevance of corridor-based development and said the studies supported corridor-based renewable energy development (click here for part 2 of Mr Karekezi’s lecture).
Commissioning the biennial lecture, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Mandla Makhanya, said higher education institutions have a leading role to play in embracing the mission of transformation towards sustainability.
Unisa, he said, is making “satisfying” progress in embedding, comprehensively, an ethos and practice of sustainability. The inaugural Exxaro Biennial Public Lecture marks another important milestone on that journey.
Speaking on the accomplishments of the Exxaro Chair, Prof Makhanya said the research arm of the chair explores interdisciplinary studies within and outside Unisa, and that the cutting-edge research is placed in the public arena, stimulating public debate, leading to the development of good practices for businesses as well as serving as a catalyst for new climate change policy development and industry practices.
The chair, he said, is also involved in both internal and external advocacy oriented community engagement with stakeholders dealing in business and climate change issues.
Prof Godwell Nhamo, the chair’s programme manager, also coordinates one of the research flagship projects in the College of Economic and Management Sciences. The flagship which deals with the Green Economy and Climate Change, is a rallying point in terms of research and innovation, and has attracted more than 50 researchers both within and outside Unisa, said Prof Makhanya.
“In addition, together with other progressive academics, Prof Nhamo has formed a Unisa-wide climate change research group hosted by the office of the Vice-Principal: Research and Innovation. There are currently six PhD and two master’s degree candidates working on various research topics addressing environmental stewardship,” he said.
Prof Simon Zadek, Senior Fellow, Global Green Growth Institute and Senior Advisor: International Institute for Sustainable Development, spoke on Shaping a green political economy.
He highlighted three barriers to accelerated transformation for an environmentally sustainable economy: financial markets, vested interests and government.
“Firstly, we have everything it takes to solve the problems facing us. There is no empty chair at the table that we are waiting to fill, some leader or technology or crucial piece of information that will change the game altogether for the better. The cards, if you prefer the analogy, have all been dealt.
My solutions, if you can call them such, offer a tough love, requiring leadership, risk taking, and a vibrant political economy in its fullest sense. Capital markets, viral and parasitic in their nature, need a radical overhaul to align them to their public purpose to invest in tomorrow`s sustainable economy; incumbents, including us, need to be gently or otherwise moved to one side, allowing toxic assets to be depreciated or better still converted to other uses; and government, the uncelebrated key to wealth creation through the ages, needs to be reinvented to do its job at this critical time,” concluded Zadeck.
Prof Zadek’s website is: http://www.zadek.net/
* Written by Rivonia Naidu
