2010 Budget Speech for South Africa

Again it is even more encouraging that South African government is putting money where their mouth is. Mr Gordhan through his budget speech for 2010 has reiterated the words of the President Zuma in that "green economy initiatives will create new opportunities for enterprise development, job creation and the renewal of commercial and residential environments"

Mr Gordhan after noting the challenges that climate change is posing, he on the other hand pointed out to opportunities for South Africa such as creating an environment that will "enable investment in sustainable technologies". He with the same vigour calls for "industries to be helped to manage scarce resources more efficiently and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through appropriate pricing of energy."

Green Opportunities

I believe that South Africa is doing her bit to contribute to the green economy. This is a call to local and foreign investors to reconsider opportunities in the country and in Africa in the renewable energy sector including R&D of sustainable living technologies and efficiency-driven approaches.

President's speech

Two things that may be of much interest to the Green Community from the South African Presidential State of the Nations Address last Thursday.

Firstly, he highlighted that his administration over 2010 will create green jobs.

I quote his words..."Our Industrial Policy Action Plan and our new focus on green jobs, will build stronger and more labour absorbing industries." I still need to familiarise myself the Industrial Policy Action Plan that he is refering to. This is encouraging as the whole world need to make progress in terms of building an economy that is less carbon-intensive.

Secondly, he also promised to create an enabling environment for the IPP's (Independent Power Producers) as opposed to one ESKOM monopolised approach. This is good news for both local and foreign investors who have for so many years tried to penetrate the renewable energy sector in South Africa but the legislative framework has not been supportive.