Palme Center awarded EU-funded project to advance a just energy transition in South Africa

South Africa is undergoing a major transformation of its energy system. As the country seeks to reduce its dependence on coal and expand cleaner energy, new investments and economic opportunities are expected to emerge. At the same time, communities that have depended on the coal industry for generations risk being left behind.

The Palme Center’s new project, Bridging Inequalities: Community and Worker Participation for an Inclusive Just Energy Transition in South Africa, aims to ensure that workers, local communities and civil society have a stronger voice in shaping this transition.

Over the next three years, the project will focus on coal-dependent areas in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Together with local civil society organisations, trade unions, municipalities and other stakeholders, the Palme Center will work to strengthen public participation in local planning and decision-making and improve access to information, training and opportunities for alternative livelihoods linked to the energy transition.

“The energy transition is not only about replacing one source of energy with another. It is about jobs, livelihoods and who gets to shape the future. If the transition is to be just, workers and local communities must have a real say in the decisions that affect them,” says Oscar Ernerot, Secretary General of the Olof Palme International Center.

Connecting major investments with local priorities

The new project comes at a time of growing investment in South Africa’s green transition. A key challenge is ensuring that these investments translate into tangible benefits and new opportunities for the communities most affected by the move away from coal.

The project will therefore seek to strengthen the link between major national and international investments and local priorities. It will support workers and communities in engaging with municipal planning and budgeting, while strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations and trade unions to monitor implementation and hold decision-makers accountable.

For the Palme Center, the assignment builds on many years of cooperation with trade unions and civil society organisations in Southern Africa, as well as its wider international work on democracy, workers’ rights and a just transition.

The project will also draw on experiences from other regions where the Palme Center works, including South America and the Western Balkans. Through peer-to-peer learning exchanges, trade unions and civil society organisations will be able to share lessons from their experiences of just transition processes, including how workers and communities can influence decisions, protect livelihoods and shape new economic opportunities. These exchanges will help strengthen cooperation and bring practical knowledge from different contexts into South Africa’s energy transition.

“There is enormous potential in the green transition, but its success cannot be measured only in megawatts or investments. It must also be measured by whether people gain new opportunities and greater influence over their lives. Our role is to help make sure that the voices of workers and communities are part of that process,” says Oscar Ernerot.

Through the new EU-funded project, the Palme Center will help connect the experiences and priorities of workers and communities in South Africa with national decision-making and wider policy discussions on the green transition.

The ambition is clear: South Africa’s energy transition should not only be green. It should also be democratic, inclusive and just.