Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy

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dc.contributor.authorTyler, Emily
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-27T13:45:49Z
dc.date.available2016-01-27T13:45:49Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.date.updated2016-01-27T12:45:11Z
dc.description.abstractThis paper considers the alignment of energy policy in South Africa with the Cabinet’s mitigation vision of a ‘peak, plateau and decline’ greenhouse gas emissions trajectory to 2050. First, the term ‘policy’ is defined as having a number of components, ranging from the broad ‘policy paradigm’ which guides the approach to policy development in a particular area, to statements and intentions, written documents and institutional orientation and capacity. Following from this definition it is argued that, at the level of written and stated energy policy, the intention exists to move towards a more diverse, efficient and less carbon-intensive energy sector. A number of policy instruments are being developed which go some way towards achieving this. However, the targets set are too low, and all initiatives are hampered for institutional and financing reasons. On the other hand, however, the dominant energy policy paradigm and the orientation and capacity of the country’s energy institutions are fundamentally misaligned with climate mitigation policy. In particular, conflicts between these institutions constrain policy co-ordination and hence alignment. The primary causes of misalignment are argued to be, firstly, existing and entrenched institutional orientation and capacity and, secondly, the lack of a single, overarching, co-ordinating energy policy institution which has sufficient power and influence to deal with the vested interests of the existing energy institutions. The paper then explores, by means of thought experiments in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, what would be required to align energy policy with Cabinet’s mitigation vision. The establishment of a single, overarching, co-ordinating energy policy institution is identified as a pre-requisite to any chance of alignment. This institution would then establish and govern appropriately oriented institutional capacity, either by creating new institutions, or mandating existing institutions to deliver on low carbon initiatives. It is suggested that whilst new capacity would be optimal, it may be unrealistic to attain this level of sector transformation within the timeframes required by mitigation policy, given the strongly entrenched interests in maintaining the status quo. The paper concludes that intervention at the highest political level is required to enforce energy institutional co-ordination and achieve actualisation of emissions mitigation aligned energy policies.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationTyler, E. (2009). <i>Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Energy Research Centre. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16585en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationTyler, Emily <i>Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Energy Research Centre, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16585en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationTyler, Emily. (2009). Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy. Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - Tyler, Emily AB - This paper considers the alignment of energy policy in South Africa with the Cabinet’s mitigation vision of a ‘peak, plateau and decline’ greenhouse gas emissions trajectory to 2050. First, the term ‘policy’ is defined as having a number of components, ranging from the broad ‘policy paradigm’ which guides the approach to policy development in a particular area, to statements and intentions, written documents and institutional orientation and capacity. Following from this definition it is argued that, at the level of written and stated energy policy, the intention exists to move towards a more diverse, efficient and less carbon-intensive energy sector. A number of policy instruments are being developed which go some way towards achieving this. However, the targets set are too low, and all initiatives are hampered for institutional and financing reasons. On the other hand, however, the dominant energy policy paradigm and the orientation and capacity of the country’s energy institutions are fundamentally misaligned with climate mitigation policy. In particular, conflicts between these institutions constrain policy co-ordination and hence alignment. The primary causes of misalignment are argued to be, firstly, existing and entrenched institutional orientation and capacity and, secondly, the lack of a single, overarching, co-ordinating energy policy institution which has sufficient power and influence to deal with the vested interests of the existing energy institutions. The paper then explores, by means of thought experiments in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, what would be required to align energy policy with Cabinet’s mitigation vision. The establishment of a single, overarching, co-ordinating energy policy institution is identified as a pre-requisite to any chance of alignment. This institution would then establish and govern appropriately oriented institutional capacity, either by creating new institutions, or mandating existing institutions to deliver on low carbon initiatives. It is suggested that whilst new capacity would be optimal, it may be unrealistic to attain this level of sector transformation within the timeframes required by mitigation policy, given the strongly entrenched interests in maintaining the status quo. The paper concludes that intervention at the highest political level is required to enforce energy institutional co-ordination and achieve actualisation of emissions mitigation aligned energy policies. DA - 2009 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - South African energy KW - climate change mitigation policy LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2009 T1 - Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy TI - Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16585 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/16585
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationTyler E. Aligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policy. 2009 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16585en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentEnergy Research Centreen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectSouth African energyen_ZA
dc.subjectclimate change mitigation policyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherEnergy Research
dc.subject.otherclimate change
dc.subject.otherenergy policies
dc.subject.otherSouth Africa
dc.titleAligning South African energy and climate change mitigation policyen_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceResearch paperen_ZA
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