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Mail & Guardian

Renewable

latest news & developments
African countries, including South Africa, have limited waste infrastructure and uneven water treatment systems, which exacerbates the problem of antibiotic resistance. Photo: Sustainable Seas Trust
BIODEGRADABLE

Beyond the bin: Rethinking bioplastic waste for a circular future

Stellenbosch University has developed a process involving enzymes that can break down bioplastics

  • Dominique Rocher & Wessel Myburgh
6 min read
Playing dirty: Environmental activists in Soweto protest about the air pollution created by state-owned energy company Eskom’s coal-fired power stations earlier this year. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu/Getty Images
AZERBAIJAN

Tracking South Africa’s climate change progress

… or lack thereof, as the country is rapidly falling behind in its climate commitments and there is not enough uptake of renewable energy

  • Ozayr Patel
4 min read
The Constitutional Court will rule on whether parliament acted lawfully when it rejected a Section 89 panel report recommending an impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal
ARTICLE

Ramaphosa: Just energy transition will need R1.7 trillion

President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 but that will require finance and partnerships

  • Anathi Madubela
2 min read
A core hole drilling site at dawn. Kinetiko describes the Amersfoort project as South Africa’s largest onshore LNG project. Photo supplied
POWERTRACKER

Mpumalanga gas project aims to bridge just energy transition gap

The development of the R155 million liquefied natural gas pilot is being promoted as a way to alleviate energy shortages while South Africa transitions to renewable energy

  • Thabo Molelekwa
8 min read
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe. (Ntswe Mokoena)
CABINET

Mantashe’s draft electricity plan finally approved by cabinet

The updated long-term blueprint for the country’s power infrastructure looks at supply-and-demand needs

  • Mandisa Makgakga
3 min read
Path-finders: The state of finances in Mpumalanga municipalities will take centre stage in shaping the path of the Just Energy Transition. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
POWERTRACKER

Are municipalities good for just energy transition money?

Financing for the JET is increasing, but is being undermined by indebted municipalities in Mpumalanga that are not bankable

  • Thabo Molelekwa
9 min read
The just transition cannot become another chapter in South Africa’s long history of missed opportunities
POWERTRACKER

Pledges roll in for SA energy transition

South Africa expects more pledges as COP28 gathers steam, but how far have Western countries come in delivering on previous commitments they made?

  • Thabo Molelekwa
7 min read
Plunder: Seven pylons collapsed when they were looted in April, plunging parts of the Pretoria area into darkness. Sabotage and theft exacerbate the country’s electricity supply crisis. Photo: Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty Images
ESKOM

Eskom’s woes continue to pile up

We are a nation at risk of losing our mind in the depths of the power utility’s problems

  • Ozayr Patel
4 min read
Out with the old, in with the new: Komati is being used to demonstrate how old power plants can be repurposed.
COAL

South Africa’s energy transition rises in the east

Mpumalanga, the province ‘where the sun rises’, takes centre stage in SA’s Just Energy Transition Plan

  • Oxpeckers
  • Yolandi Groenewald
8 min read