UK PACT has partnered with South Africa, to support action on just transition pathways and a low-carbon economic recovery.
With the second largest economy in Africa, South Africa plays a critical role in economic and policy priority setting at a continental level (African Union) and across the Southern Africa region. South Africa’s long-standing participation in United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes creates a solid platform for an impactful and transformational UK PACT partnership. Moreover, UK PACT seeks to support climate action that will contribute to the realisation of other development imperatives in South Africa, such as job creation and poverty alleviation.
Priority areas of focus for UK PACT in South Africa are aligned with key national priorities in Just Energy Transition, renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transport, and sustainable finance. Opportunities exist for UK PACT supported programmes to contribute to addressing industry-wide constraints, common metropolitan challenges, and bringing city, provincial and national level public and private partners together to address climate priorities.
Success Story
This flagship green growth project is developing Colombia’s bio-economy strategy, a policy area that holds great potential for sustainable and inclusive economic development in the country.
To build the capacity of potential green project implementers at the subnational level, the project developed a course on key bio-economy themes. Over 24,188 people have registered for the free online course, which offers certification and relevant learning to support green growth transitions across Colombia. The project has also been working to develop four non-conventional renewable energy proposals, assisting with financial and technical analysis so as to leave them “ready for investment”. This includes a 36 MWp solar cluster, located in Tolima. These projects will help to scale up renewable energy as a reliable technology that can support the clean energy transition within Colombia.
Success Story
This project set out to improve urban logistics in Mexico City by developing a roadmap to address existing challenges on urban freight vehicle management.
The recommendations mapped out more efficient transport routes and identified measures to reduce congestion in the city, leading to reduced emissions from vehicles and improving air quality. Building a roadmap with a strategy was key to changing public policy in the city and facilitating emission reductions in this area. Since then, a wide range of government officials have met to discuss potential actions to upgrade freight operations in Mexico City.
The first South Africa-UK PACT funding round closed in August 2020.
Projects were assessed as part of an open call to prospective applicants following two stages: 1) Expression of Interest (EOI) to outline how a proposed project responds to the call; and 2) a request for detailed proposals for those shortlisted at the EOI stage.
Please see across the updated timeline for the current application process.
UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) is a unique capacity-building programme running from 2018 to 2022. Funded by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through the UK's International Climate Finance, it works in partnership with countries with high emission reduction potential to support them to implement and increase their ambitions for tackling climate change.