Recent signs of America’s weakening global economic, cultural, and military dominance notwithstanding, the country continues to play a superpower-sized role in shaping the international narrative,... 

Mining personality Bernard Swanepoel’s disarming sense of humour enables him to speak many a true word in jest without triggering offence. But he wasn’t joking when, in opening a recent webinar on... 

While it’s been obvious for years, Eskom’s recent results once again showed that, absent a debt solution, the utility has no real pathway to financial sustainability. Yes, there are signs of... 

The recent rebasing and benchmarking exercise undertaken by Statistics South Africa as part of a routine five-yearly review made for some relatively happy reading, especially given the constant... 

South Africa is hardly ever short of a plan, yet the country hardly ever has a vision. That’s why Andre de Ruyter’s recent Van der Bijl Memorial Lecture was so refreshing. In his address, the Eskom... 

If South Africa is serious about ensuring that its transition to a low-carbon economy is a just one, then there is no question that the re-training of coal workers will have to be at the very heart... 

South Africa has a narrow window of opportunity to attract significant levels of international finance to support what is becoming an increasingly urgent transition away from coal, and to do so in... 

As the countdown clock to the Glasgow climate conference ticked past the 100-day mark late last month several deadly natural disasters, from floods and heat domes, provided stark reminders of the... 

2021 is proving to be another difficult year for South African business. Despite rising minerals prices and some credible signs that initiatives are under way to restore good governance, roll-out... 

Hidden among data-rich economic commentary and an array of analytical figures and tables, the World Bank’s most recent South Africa Economic Update includes an uplifting personal story about Davy... 

One warning raised amid the euphoria generated by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s June 10 announcement that Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act would be amended to increase the... 

It doesn’t seem possible to resolve most societal problems until they are. This is especially true for something as complex and multifaceted as the restructuring of a well-entrenched, albeit... 

South Africa does not lack for plans. What the country does lack, however, is a big unifying idea around which its plans, policies and programmes can cohere. A vision that shapes and directs not... 

June could well go down as the month that South Africa finally turned the key on the starter motors of some important growth engines. The precise details of the regulatory reform that will lift the... 

Images of the remarkable Gift of the Givers drilling for water outside the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, in Coronationville, Gauteng, may have been uplifting for many. It showed the power... 

The already fragile national mood has turned decidedly more sour over the past few weeks as the country descended, yet again, into confidence-sapping load-shedding, tightened lockdown rules in... 

The level of interest being shown in South Africa’s highly-disrupted renewables roll-out is more than a little noteworthy. Over 800 delegates logged into a virtual bidders conference last week,... 

South Africa’s ongoing resistance to the energy transition is not only distressingly out of step with fast-moving developments, but is becoming a binding constraint on prospects for ending the... 

The downward trajectory in Eskom’s sales to industrial customers over the past decade and a bit tells a tale of what happens when tariffs, which were too low for too long, are forced to correct too... 

With the deadline looming for public comment on a draft amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA), calls are growing for the reform to go beyond simply raising the... 

There is little doubt that many South Africans still have a great, albeit idealised, affection for Cuba, despite its many social, political and economic problems. This affinity is firmly rooted in... 

The immediate reaction to government’s announcement that three power ships had secured 1 200 MW of the 1 850 MW allocated to eight preferred bidders following the evaluation of bids received under... 

It’s early days yet, but the moves being made by South African energy and chemicals group Sasol to position itself as a green-hydrogen leader are not only interesting, but also critical if the... 

Have a listen to this for an energy roadmap: “We are a relatively small country located at the end of the world, but this moment calls us all to be ambitious and that’s exactly what we are trying... 

There will be some criticism and disappointment that South Africa’s draft updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) unveiled by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara... 

A snapshot of what the world’s total final electricity consumption should look like in 2050 to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels has been published by the... 

The six-year gap in South Africa’s procurement of new electricity capacity is biting and will continue to do so for another five years at least, unless urgent action is taken to reform those... 

The rhetoric about the need for economies to use Covid-19 rescue and recovery packages to not only “bounce back” but to “bounce forward” by deploying fiscal resources to stimulate greater climate,... 

Globally, countries are increasingly  prioritising the development of local capacity to improve the resilience of their energy systems in times of crisis. This trend is reflected in the World... 

One of the unsung highlights of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Budget 2021 speech was his announcement that the border posts at South Africa’s six busiest land borders were to be upgraded and... 

Much attention is, quite correctly, being given to the 15.68% tariff increase granted to Eskom by the energy regulator following a court order arising as part of an ongoing battle over the National... 

It is positive that South Africa has been working on a hydrogen strategy since 2007. It is equally positive that this work has started to deliver solid thought leadership regarding the production...