Could Nelson Mandela Bay become a world-first climate special economic zone (SEZ), focused on low-carbon industrial development?
An African showpiece of achieving a just transition to a low-carbon economy, with a localised road map to transition from the current automotive manufacturing supply chain on which we rely so heavily, to electric vehicle production and other green economy opportunities, as well as a metro that takes full advantage of its natural assets to create a great, clean place to live?
We were among a diverse group of stakeholders that attended a climate change workshop with the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) in the Bay earlier this month, where it was agreed that this was not only possible, but desirable.
In fact, if the automotive industry is to survive, not only in the Bay but in SA as a whole, it is critical.
For Nelson Mandela Bay, the concept of a “just transition in which no-one is left behind by the social and economic challenges of climate change is not only about transitioning from coal to renewable energy.
Just transition for NMB is very specifically about transitioning from an economy dependent on the internal combustion engine to one where manufacturers want to build electric vehicles.
We will need to take the auto components manufacturers along, and ensure that investments and employment are able to shift into electric vehicle components, especially in terms of batteries for vehicles and other applications, and into seizing new green economic opportunities.
Our ability as a country to move swiftly and with policy certainty into electric vehicle manufacturing, along with other opportunities such as battery manufacture and green hydrogen, green ammonia, is critical to our ability to build an economy and a society resilient to the impact of climate change.
If the Bay can succeed in this, it will benefit the SA automotive industry as a whole.
Conversely, if we cannot, the entire industry will go into decline.
The emphasis here is resilience of achieving a state where we do not merely survive, but bounce back and create an even better state than before.
This is not a one-off destination, but a process and a journey, and it is imperative that it is inclusive, multi-stakeholder driven and above politics.
A draft climate resilience and development plan for the metro presented and discussed at the workshop will now move into the next stage, with the PCC and the metro as partners in refining the plan widening the circle of stakeholders to be as diverse and as inclusive as possible and securing commitment to a green development pathway across the spectrum of business, government, civil society, academia and citizens.
The PCC wants to work with Nelson Mandela Bay as a pilot site for inclusive, system transformation towards a climate-resilient city that has seized opportunity out of threat.
It is a major advantage for us, as this may potentially unlock resources and funding, both at national level and from international agencies looking to support relevant, effective models of climate change response.
The PCC’s climate adaption lead, Dhesigen Naidoo, stated that, out of the workshop, “we now have a crisp idea how to shape this project; we are partners now”.
We agree with him, and other speakers on this, that such a project needs to be “insulated from the risks of governance fluidity”, in other words the revolving door of political leadership and city managers that we have experienced over the past several years.
A model for the metro s green economic pathway’ needs to be resilient to changes in political (and other types of) leadership, by giving sufficient voice and capacity to all social partners, and to be backed a support system for evidencebacked decision making.
There cannot be a better reason, in my view, for building multi-stakeholder, inclusive collaboration, bringing us together in a common cause irrespective of political affiliations, than planning together for our metro to be not only resilient to climate change, but also to turn adversity into opportunity, tap into the opportunities presented by our skilled people and natural assets.
And we need to do this as Africans, working in harmony with nature and learning from nature, focusing on enabling all to succeed, rather than the Western model of separateness and extraction from nature.
Nelson Mandela Bay has a history of positive collaboration to build on, from the days of resistance to apartheid, to the creation of the country’s first “one city” government pre1994, to a resilient population today, and a vibrancy in working across traditional boundaries by business, labour, civil society and academics.
Now, more than ever before, we need this active citizenry and collaboration to be reignited again.
Climate change is a human as well as an environmental challenge, and one that knows no political ideologies or demarcation boundaries and so should our response as humans rise above political differences and take everyone along, irrespective of location or socioeconomic status.