President Cyril Ramaphosa's bold move to give private energy generators free rein to develop their own power to ‘reduce the burden’ on an ailing Eskom has been widely hailed, with some caveats, writes Legalbrief.  Eskom's lack of ... Read More

An environmentalist employed by the eThekwini municipality has secured a small but important victory in his legal battle to rehabilitate an old Indian cemetery used by a freight company to store containers, reports TimesLIVE. KZN High Court (Durban) Judge Jacqui ... Read More

Mining companies with higher environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings outperformed the broader market during the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, delivering an average total shareholder return of 34% over the past three years – 10 percentage points higher than ... Read More

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality intends slashing the budgets of several critical departments in the hope of having more than R500m available for drought-mitigation efforts and water services. According to a report in The Herald, the refusal by the National ... Read More

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of a hundredfold increase in the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects could add as much as 15GW to the electricity system over the next ‘five-to-seven years’, according to Intellidex capital markets research head Peter Attard ... Read More

The 2015 financial provisioning regulations have been amended again, along with requirements in the 2014 environmental impact assessment regulations with mining industry implications. A Policy Watch report notes that, among other things, they postpone certain compliance deadlines under prevailing transitional ... Read More

Input is sought on a draft green finance taxonomy, which was released last week with a user guide and a list of ‘constituents’ requiring additional technical development and review. According to a Policy Watch report, once finalised, the taxonomy is ... Read More

There are many reasons to invest in renewables. ‘They will help reduce stress on water sources, lower temperatures, improve air quality and put more money in your pocket. That’s right – more money in your pocket, way more than what ... Read More

Local leaders and bee farmers in Kenya’s Baringo County have opposed the proposed Livestock Bill that seeks to outlaw keeping bees for commercial purposes. The Nation reports that the proposed law drafted by National Assembly majority leader Amos Kimunya only ... Read More

Kenya should intensify action on the climate crisis in the coastal region that has disrupted livelihoods of predominantly fishing and pastoralist communities, Mithika Mwenda, executive director of Nairobi-based Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance said last week. According to a Cape Times ... Read More

The community of Dinde is lobbying African governments and those of other countries to help to force the Zimbabwean Government to respect their constitutional rights. A Mail & Guardian Online report notes that this is as a Chinese-owned investment company ... Read More

Investors controlling $41tn in assets have called for governments around the world to end support for fossil fuels and set targets for rapid reductions in carbon emissions to limit the damage from global heating. According to a report in The ... Read More

European Union countries last week approved the bloc’s flagship fund to wean them off fossil fuels and protect communities most affected, paving the way for members to start receiving the cash. According to a Cape Times report, the R287.4bn ... Read More

Plans to capture and run six-hour-long sound tests on young minke whales are set to go ahead in Norway despite condemnation from more than 50 international scientists and wildlife experts. A report in The Guardian notes that, according to the ... Read More

* A high-speed chase by the Gqeberha flying squad and a private anti-poaching unit resulted in the arrest of six people for the illegal possession of abalone last week. According to police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg, six suspects, aged ... Read More

* In support of World Oceans Day, held last week, Ocean Plastics Technologies (OPT) has developed a new way to recycle plastic waste with their micro recycling plants (MRP), mobile containers that process reclaimed plastic waste more sustainably than big material ... Read More

* Following a successful webinar series on business opportunities in the renewable energy sector in 2020, a second series started in May in collaboration between the SA Wind Energy Association and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association. The 2020 editions served ... Read More

Starbucks' Cup-Share initiativeCoffeehouse multinational Starbucks will start a trial of its reusable Cup-Share initiative, which is aimed at reducing single-use plastic waste, in the UK, France and Germany over the coming months. The Cup-Share initiative is part of its ongoing ... Read More

3D-printed avocadosIn determining the damage to fresh produce transported from producers to supermarkets, scientists at the University of Pretoria’s Engineering 4.0 research facility are using 3D-printed avocados on a ship from SA to the Netherlands with microsensors inserted. According ... Read More