The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The South African Cabinet has approved the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM) for implementation, targeting energy security and broader industrial growth. The plan seeks to address challenges associated with local capacity, infrastructure and investment by providing a roadmap for developing renewable energy and battery storage technologies. For investors, the …
Africa deployed an additional 2.5 GW of solar in 2024, according to AFSIA‘s new “Africa Solar Outlook 2025” report. AFSIA’s figures, which do not include residential installations, take the continent’s combined solar capacity to 19.2 GW. It said the new solar additions last year accounted for 0.5% of all new …
The 2024 blue drop results show an alarming increase in unsafe municipal drinking water, with 13% of blue drop tests across the country that point to unsafe drinking water. The drinking water of 28 towns and cities did not comply with standards for safe drinking water. Drinking water that does …
Blackouts and Backsliding presents the latest energy subsidy data for South Africa. South Africa's fossil fuel subsidies tripled between FY 2018 and FY 2023, from ZAR 39 billion (USD 2.9 billion) in FY 2018 to ZAR 118 billion (USD 7.5 billion) in FY 2023. The largest share of fossil fuel …
This document presents the findings of a modelling study that examined in detail the costs and benefits of tuberculosis (TB) screening plus TB preventive treatment (TPT) in four countries – Brazil, Georgia, Kenya and South Africa – which may serve as examples for other settings with a similar epidemiological context. …
In Sub-Saharan Africa, health care facilities face critical challenges in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services; health care waste management; and environmental cleanliness. With coverage below 50 percent, these deficiencies pose significant health risks to patients and health care workers, contributing to health care–associated infections. Meta-analyses and individual studies estimate …
The Donkey Sanctuary’s latest report on the skin trade reveals that at least 5.9 million donkeys are now slaughtered every year to meet escalating demand for ejiao, a traditional Chinese remedy, made using their skins. The figure represents The Donkey Sanctuary’s most conservative estimate and is projected to reach 6.7 …
This publication looks at how sharing technological infrastructure can support gender equality and serve the broad betterment of mining communities. It illustrates how mining companies in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are sharing technological infrastructure with local communities and how partners are collaborating in Peru …
This paper contributes to research on building climate risks resilience through early warning systems to identify hidden trends and emerging technologies that can support practitioners in the design of EWS. This review aims to contribute toward benefiting climate-sensitive sectors and helping managers with climate risk adaptation strategies. Climate risks embody …
As countries transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies, finance flows will need to shift to support these transitions, in line with the third long-term goal of the Paris Agreement, Article 2.1c. The transition's success will also depend on it considering justice elements, to avoid any potential negative socioeconomic impacts in …
Incentive based regulation is an innovative and uniquely South African response to challenges in the water sector. The Blue Drop Certification programme seeks to induce changes in behaviour of individuals and institutions to facilitate continuous improvement and adoption of best practice management of the delivery and distribution networks from abstraction …
The South African Climate Finance Landscape 2023 report seeks to map climate finance investment in South Africa by way of tracking project-level investments thereby identifying sources and intermediaries of climate finance; financial instruments used; uses of climate finance; and ultimately which sectors benefit from climate finance flows in South Africa. …
This report presents a detailed methodology for determining the amount of wind and solar capacity that is required for a country to align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature goal. While the focus of the report is the method, it includes illustrative benchmarks for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Germany, South …
The fourteenth edition of the South Africa Economic Update, Safety First: The Economic Cost of Crime in South Africa, discusses South Africa’s economic prospects and highlights the critical need to address the challenge of high crime, to reduce its adverse effects on the economy and society at large. South Africa's …
This report builds on the analysis presented in IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook to support energy transition planning and informed policy making in South Africa, and calls for a comprehensive policy framework that can advance the transition whilst safeguarding people, livelihoods and jobs. Over the past ten years, the Republic …
This Country Focus Report (CFR) for South Africa reviews the role of the private sector in financing climate change and green growth. It further explores the scope for harnessing natural capital to finance adaptation and mitigation to climate change and to promote green growth. It aims to replicate at the …
This Synthesis Report provides an overview of the challenges posed by drought in Southern Africa, as well as the progress that has been made in recent years by the SADRI Pillar Teams to identify knowledge gaps and explore integrated systems and frameworks to build drought resilience in the region.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Recognizing that women, men and children can be affected differently following exposure to PCBs and other POPs, this report emphasizes the importance of engaging women and men alike as part of the solutions that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project “Disposal of …
This brief presents key insights about ways to integrate climate information into climate change-related adaptation planning used in urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The authors of this brief highlight 10 lessons learned from their work to promote and support long-term resilience to the impacts of climate change in growing cities …
This case study series presents the evolution in national capacities and systems for anticipating drought in Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. They outline key results from the first phase (2019-2022) of the Multi-country programme on scaling-up anticipatory action for food security (MCP-AA4FS Phase I), funded by the regional Norwegian Agency for …
