Green skills to pay the bills – Climate Weekly

Duvha power plant, located in Mpumalanga (South Africa), is scheduled to be shut down between 2031-2034. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

The Just Energy Transition Partnerships look very exciting when seen from Cops’ conference centres.

Rich countries give billions of dollars in aid to emerging, coal-reliant economies like South Africa and Indonesia to help them transition to renewables.

It looks like a threat to Benicon Park, an informal settlement located next to a coal-fired coal power station in South Africa’s South Africa’s coal country. This is what Oxpeckers, a local outlet, found in our joint investigation.

It is too early to predict whether the coal-to renewable energy transition will cause the economic harm this community fears. Much will depend on how effective retraining is, and only 0.1% of South Africa’s $83 billion investment plan goes towards skills development.

Part of the problem is that wealthy countries and private companies are reluctant to fund training courses. This is because unlike solar farms, they don’t make money and therefore require grants and loans.

This week’s stories

• What is at stake at the World Bank’s spring meeting for climate?
• G7 may ignore climate warnings, and call for new gas investment
• The World Bank’s private sector arm will cease supporting new coal
• Migrant workers in the UAE face dangers building Europe’s new gas supply
• UN moves to create a healthy environment to spark tension
• OECD reforms to improve export finance for “green” projects
• South Africa’s coal communities are worried by uncertainty about renewable retraining
• Insurer quits climate alliance, citing legal fears

However, it’s not all bad work in the fossil fuel industry.

Our reporting from the UAE revealed that migrant workers in oil and gas are dying, and authorities are not taking into consideration the safety issues that are causing these deaths.

After two days of driving in the desert, a jeep driver for a pipeline project was killed. According to authorities, he died from a heart attack. Companies don’t have the obligation to compensate his family.

Next week is all eyes on Sapporo, Japan. The G7 is debating whether or not to call for new gas investment. Washington DC will be the focus of the spring meeting of the World Bank. They will discuss how to get the big money moving into climate projects.