Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (Research Outputs)
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Item The Care-Climate Nexus - A Conceptual Framework(2025-01) Phalatse, Sonia; Taylor, Julia; Valodia, ImraanAs is widely acknowledged and evidenced, climate change threatens food security and sovereignty; water availability, accessibility and quality; health and livelihoods. Where women bear the primary responsibility of unpaid care work such as food provision, water collection, and care for the young, sick and elderly, climate change disproportionately disadvantages them. This applies to the work of care and, more broadly, to social reproduction. Climate change thus contributes to an ongoing crisis of care, exacerbating the injustices associated with women carrying a disproportionate share of unpaid care. As such, fostering a value for care could be a means through which social and environmental inequalities are equally addressed in an ecological transition. This paper expands on the conceptual linkages of a care-climate nexus, with the aim of supporting climate policy.Item Towards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-06-19) Cerise, Somali; Cook, Sarah; Lehmann-Grube, Katrina; Taylor, Julia; Valodia, ImraanA ‘just transition’ broadly refers to the principles, processes and practices used to ensure that transitions to a low-carbon economy are socially just. Gender justice, however, frequently remains marginal to mainstream debates and policies – whether about climate finance, technological solutions, corporate management approaches – or indeed most government transition strategies. This paper argues that ensuring a transition that delivers gender justice is both critical and urgent. Without explicit attention to, and clear prioritisation of gender justice across transition policies, climate change ‘solutions’ risk replicating or reinforcing structural gender inequalities. Examples of such risk include women’s continued limited access to economic opportunities, employment and social protection; their over-representation in precarious work; and women’s primary responsibility for social reproduction and care. Communities with few livelihood options and limited access to services rely heavily on natural resources to survive. These resources are vital to the provision of care and may be severely affected by environmental degradation. Care responsibilities expose women disproportionately to climate and environmental impacts. Women are the household members most likely to bear the burden of adapting to climate change. These realities reduce the likelihood that any climate transition can be just without a clear focus on the policies, strategies and implementation processes needed to achieve gender justice. This paper asks what a gender just transition could and should look like, particularly in the global South. Based on an extensive review of conceptual and empirical literatures from a range of disciplinary perspectives, we examine how different approaches address – or ignore – gender dimensions of (in)justice in thinking about low-carbon transitions. We go on to offer a more expansive view of justice informed by perspectives drawn from feminist theory, and combine this with the pillars of distributive, procedural, recognitive and restorative justice.Item Renewable energy, the just transition and inequality: insights from South Africa’s renewables procurement(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06-21) Cassim, Aalia; Taylor, Julia; Crompton, Roderick; Valodia, ImraanLow- and middle-income countries across the world are facing the dilemma of needing to decarbonise and industrialise in the context of an electricity supply crisis. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is one of the first steps taken in any process of decarbonisation to address climate change. The energy transition is complex and holds significant economic risk. It requires strong governance and a capable state as well as coordination across government, community organisations and the private sector. This mammoth task requires the State to adopt policies that balance social, economic and climate objectives while reviewing past policies that may no longer be appropriate. This paper discusses the de-risking approach and the investment-centred approach to an energy transition, and using the case study of South Africa, argues for the necessity of an investment-centred approach to achieve a transition which supports local development and energy security. In analysing the example of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REI4P), we highlight important learnings for the energy transition, which provide a useful window into the wider carbon transition.