Elections 2024 — where’s the climate party? Wham, CBAM, thank you ma’am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs4jZNyTvE0

Now all the hooplah of the 2024 elections is over, political parties are getting down and dirty, working out coalitions. 

The configuration of power sharing will matter little if future generations can’t survive environmental collapse and climate change, but it seems this is the last thing on their minds.

Looking at their manifestos, there’s either a glaring absence or cognitive dissonance on the issue. 

“If we take the big three, the DA’s manifesto has two points on climate change, the ANC has three, and while the EFF does better with 30 points, their manifesto also promotes the myth of ‘clean coal’.”

The big three until the vote count at least, after new/old kid on the block, the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, shouldered the EFF out of the way for third – though with no mention of climate change or the environment in their manifesto, and a huge emphasis on increased industrialisation on the back of expanded coal and nuclear power generation. 

So, more of an anti-climate party then. Some of the newer parties like Rise Mzansi do a better job, but will their influence be felt?

The problem is thinking that the climate and the environment are only of concern to the privileged (after all, they are creating the situation), or somehow separate from “bigger” issues like the economy, unemployment and food security. 

According to Ferrial Adam, a lawyer and climate activist from WaterCAN, “social justice, the right of access to food, the access to water, the access to housing, all of that, that’s very much linked to climate change. The political parties are not making those linkages, but ordinary people in South Africa are feeling it.


Are political parties just paying lip service or are they ready to walk their talk? According to Dr Adam, it’s usually the former. 

“So, when they talk about water, it’s not linked to climate change. When they talk about food, it’s not linked to climate change. And that’s actually where you then get a sense of whether a party is genuine in their manifesto around how they’re dealing with climate change.”

Whether we like it or not, the global fossil fuel party is over. 

KG and Céline hold a funeral for the carbon economy, and look at the risks of continuing to produce dirty energy for South Africa instead of reaping the rewards of transitioning to cleaner renewables.

Executive director of the Presidential Climate Commission, Dr Crispian Olver, sees the move to clean energy technology as a huge paradigm shift. “The best way to think about the climate transition is it’s of the order of magnitude of the great economic revolutions of our time… the Industrial Revolution, the coming of the information age, all of these, you know, were driven by massive technological innovation that changed the way our economies produce and our societies consume.”

South Africa can either change direction or continue to head on down to dirty town. 

“A study by S&P Global has found that South Africa will be the country that is most affected by Europe’s carbon border tax in the entire world. And that’s because our electricity system is the most reliant on coal in the world, basically.” Nick Hedley, editor of The Progressive Playbook, lays out why everything produced with our power will be hit by European carbon tariffs.

Fresh energy and thinking is needed here. Sadly the political dinosaurs who are currently battling it out for power are not paying enough attention. It’s going to be up to citizens and communities to push for better and hold them to account. DM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk