Research

UNDP Just Energy Transition (JET) Platform

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa hosted a side-event at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022 titled “A Just Transition to Deliver Climate Actions in Africa”. This high-level event brought to the fore the key focus to deliver a Just Transition in South Africa. Informed by these insights, UNDP in partnership with the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), will convene a Just Energy Transition (JET) Platform to deep dive into these critical areas. The JET Platform will provide a space for cross sectoral, transdisciplinary, and diversified discussion to unlock and build thought leadership around the just energy transition implementation processes. The JET Platform will have the overall purpose to bring together minds to bridge the gap between the stated national vision of the just transition in South Africa, and its institutionalised manifestation on the ground. To inform and design just transition implementation, the Platform will:

• Promote policy-oriented research;
• Stimulate critical debates amongst global and national experts and cross sectoral stakeholders on the wide spectrum of issues associated with the just energy transition;
• Promote the creation of different narratives and discourses on the just energy transition in South Africa, drawing on experience from other countries in the Global South and Global North;
• Function as a learning exchange platform for leaders on the just transition process and;
• Present policy, strategic, and recommendations for possible implementation.

PhD research

Current

Charite Leta. The impact of blockchain technology on climate change: a global perspective. Expected year of completion: 2024. 

Anneri Oosthuizen. Female Empowerment and Climate Change. Expected year of completion: 2024

Jaco Nel. Macroeconomic effects of electric vehicle adoption in South Africa. Expected year of completion: 2023.

Nancy Mukalayi Muvumbu. The impact of digital financial inclusion on energy and the environment. Expected year of completion: 2024.

Alanda Venter. The role of institutions on the energy supply markets. Expected year of completion: 2023.

Recently completed

Chris Milindi. 2022. Analysing the impact of technological progress on emissions levels: Evidence and lessons from different income-group countries.

Vanessa Ndlovu. 2020. The role of renewable energy in the South African energy supply mix and economy.

Jessika Bohlmann. 2020. Evaluating the impacts of energy and environmental policy on South African households. 

Masters research

Recently completed

Anneri Oosthuizen (Graduation 2021). “The impact of policy priority flexibility on the speed of renewable energy adoption”.

Ashley Gandy (Graduation 2021). “An analysis of biomass energy consumption and economic growth in leading biomass consuming countries”.

Charite Leta (Graduation 2021). “Emissions and gender equality in the labour market: A panel data evidence from OECD of 57 countries”.

Marco de Gouveia (Graduation 2021). “Examining the relationship between climate change-related research output and CO2 emissions”.

Saida Musyoki (Graduation 2021). “Revisiting the EKC hypothesis in South Africa: Ecological footprint vs Emissions as proxy for environmental degradation”.

Masedi Sesele, (Graduation 2020). “The role of non-renewable energy sources to economic output at selected South African sectors”.

Alanda Venter, (Graduation 2020). “South Africa’s sectoral electricity demand forecast: Demand-Supply balance forecast”.

Fatoumata Bintah, (Graduation 2020). “Energy consumption and (de)industrialization in the sub-Saharan African countries”.

Tshegofatso Molefe, (Graduation 2020). “Food-Energy-Water nexus from a SDG lens: Big 5 African countries”.

J-R Boltman, (Graduation 2018). The impact of high- and non-high-tech trade in a country’s emissions and energy efficiency profile: Do developed and developing countries differ?

Jeetesh Manilall, 2017 (Graduation 2017). An Energy Efficient, Environmental Kuznets Curve Model (EE EKC).