South Africa - Making the right energy choices

On 25 September 2015, the member states of the United Nations agreed on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will be the cornerstone of the Post-2015 Development Agenda[1]. The SDGs are acknowledged as a great achievement that amalgamates the sustainability agenda with the development agenda.[2] The South African government has unreservedly endorsed the SDGs, noting that the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality that they address is also the primary focus of the country. As such, the SDGs are conceptually aligned to South Africa's National Development Plan.

This paper provides a short country analysis of the existing alignment (or not) of South African national policies and strategies with its G20 commitments relating to climate change and renewable energy, as well as its global climate commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).