Varieties of just transition: Public support in South Africa’s Mpumalanga coal community for different policy options

Summary: The article aims at assessing public support for different types of Just Transition policies in South Africa. It employs a semi-structured interviews on coal miners, Eskom power plant workers and community members in Mpumalanga province. The article further examines who will administer the just transition aid based on the preferred compensation types.

Key Findings/Recommendations: The article identified four policy types, depending on whether they target individuals, local government or community, and how quickly beneficiaries receive benefits. The identified policy types are: individual compensation (individual, quick), financial support to local governments (community, quick), individual reskilling (individual, delayed), and upgrading local infrastructure (community, delayed). Given the low trust in the government, interviewees do not want government or the labour unions to administer the JT funds. Instead, they favour independent actors, such as NGOs and the judiciary, to oversee JT disbursal.

Read online: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000205