'You Can't Eat Electricity' Why tackling inequality and hunger should be at the heart of low carbon development in South Africa
Publication date
2013-05-27Keywords
Civil societyFood prices
Food security
Inequality
Local Government
Participation
Renewable energy
Low carbon development
Greenhouse gas emissions
Climate change mitigation
Country
South AfricaMetadata
Show full item recordPublisher(s)
Oxfam InternationalDocument type
Discussion paperDescription
How can low carbon development be pursued without making inequality and food insecurity worse? South Africa, like many middle income countries, faces the challenge of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the context of high levels of inequality and persistent hunger and malnutrition. High, and rising, prices force too many people to choose between using scarce household budgets for food or for energy.
This Oxfam discussion paper considers how putting action on inequality and hunger at the heart of the low carbon development agenda in South Africa could also help to mobilize new constituencies of political support for low carbon action, which could be critical if vested interests in the carbon-based, energy-intensive economy are to be overcome.