The Climate Justice Coalition has marched to the Department of Minerals and Energy in Pretoria, in a bid to pressurise the government to move away from fossil fuels and immediately start transitioning to renewable energy.
The group also wants communities to be involved in the renewable energy and mining projects’ value chain. They are demanding one million climate jobs and a halt to new coal, oil and gas projects.
Yesterday, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) granted licenses for floating powership provider Karpowership and four others which has been met with criticism from environmentalists.
“We need tens of thousands of people out on our street to get this government to sit up and listen and to ignore the very powerful lobby of the coal miners in this country and the gas owners and all those people who are going to benefit along the value chain. That’s why we are seeing deals with Karpowership and so on. We are ready to step up, we are tired of talking politely to these people” says activist Rehad Desai.
VIDEO: Calls for strong action against the effects of climate change:
VIDEO: South Africa’s response to Climate Change
