A green transition in South Africa? Sociotechnical experimentation in the Atlantis Special Economic Zone

Richard Grant,Pádraig Carmody,James T Murphy

doi:10.1017/s0022278x20000208

Abstract

AbstractSouth Africa faces interconnected challenges of developing and diversifying its economy and adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change. A green policy tilt is ascendant in the country, manifest in a cascading array of policies and special initiatives. Utilising concepts from the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions, we assess Africa's first designated Green Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Atlantis SEZ (ASEZ) in the Western Cape, a niche innovation aimed at transforming the Province's industrial base. This initiative is very ambitious in four respects: (1) it links green SEZ development in a deprived metropolitan area to the broader regional economy; (2) it utilises an innovative governance structure; (3) it promises localization economies and export potential; and (4) it connects SEZ niche experimentation with emergent renewable energy regimes. While elements are in place which might seed a sociotechnical transition, societal and political forces (i.e. landscape features) continue to limit its realisation, highlighting the immanent, structural realities shaping South Africa's economic futures.

Highlights

In the aftermath of the global financial and economic crises of the late th century, environmental economists seized the opportunity to promote a fundamental restructuring of the global economy along green lines (Rodrik )
This paper explores the case of the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) – in order to situate its development within a broader political-economic transition that is evolving in South Africa today
Viewing the Western Cape’s regional economy as a sociotechnical system, we deploy ideas from multilevel perspective (MLP) to assess whether Atlantis SEZ (ASEZ) as a niche innovation might facilitate a sustainability transition through the greening of dominant/mainstream regime structures and activities related to production, consumption and infrastructure

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In the aftermath of the global financial and economic crises of the late th century, environmental economists seized the opportunity to promote a fundamental restructuring of the global economy along green lines (Rodrik ). In South Africa, the government defines the green economy as a ‘system of economic activities related to the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services that result in improved human well-being over the long term, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks or ecological scarcities’ (Green Economy Summit Report : ). What this means economically is that industry should be ‘low carbon, resource efficient and pro-employment’ – emphasising job creation through green enterprises and infrastructures (Green Economy Summit Report : ). It can be expected that the forms and places where the green economy can evolve in South Africa will be uneven, and transition initiatives are likely to evolve and coexist with incumbent enterprises, industries, institutions and/or established practices (Murphy & Carmody ; Kirshner et al )

A GREEN TRANSITION IN SOUTH AFRICA?

A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

CONCLUSIONS