Green structural transformation in South Africa

Nishal Robb, Glen Robbins, Julia Taylor and Imraan Valodia

No wp-2026-62, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: South Africa faces complex tensions between its aspirations to achieve green structural transformation, its ambitious energy transition commitments, and the structural economic conditions that constrain their realization. We argue that emissions reductions achieved to date have been driven at least as much by economic stagnation, deindustrialization and energy system dysfunction as by policies aimed at decarbonization, factors which have also deepened the country's structural dependence on an exceptionally carbon-intensive production system entrenched in the apartheid era.

Keywords: Green structural transformation; Political economy; Industrial policy; South Africa; Energy transition; Middle-income countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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