Project Background
Climate change was a global threat, but a proactive response to it brought new opportunities that benefited communities and the economy.
This South African climate change project for youth, women, and communities aimed to enable constructive and collaborative engagement in climate mitigation and adaptation. SA Climate Change Champs created awareness among South Africa’s youth about the vast opportunities in the green economy and the promising career prospects within the country’s growing renewable energy industry. #SAClimateChangeChamps
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The focus of #SAClimateChangeChamps was on urban and rural communities, women, and youth in the Northern, Eastern, and Western Cape. These were the communities and citizens that stood to benefit from a transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy but whose voices were not adequately heard at the national level and who lacked the knowledge, capacity, and sense of agency to act locally.
The ‘Active Climate Change Citizenship for a Just Transition in South Africa’ initiative (Climate Change Champs) was funded by the European Union and implemented by GreenCape in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. It set out to capacitate active citizens who could effectively participate in democratic processes and to enable communication with the government about their needs and priorities for climate mitigation and adaptation, with a particular focus on energy.
This important climate change project in South Africa built capacity in a core group of civil society organisations and community-based organisations to train high school teachers and community organisations about renewable energy and climate change adaptations.
By working through the teachers, the project aimed to reach 500 high school students, ensuring they became aware of the economic, environmental, and social benefits of renewable energy, as well as the career opportunities available to them.
Through the creation of climate clubs and a virtual networking platform, the initiative sought to build a community of young people with a voice to influence national and local climate and energy policy. They took action in their schools and communities to drive climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. By engaging high school teachers, the project successfully reached students and raised awareness about the economic, environmental, and social benefits of renewable energy and the career opportunities in these fields.
According to the United Nations, climate change referred to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts could be natural, such as variations in the solar cycle. However, since the 1800s, human activities had been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.
Burning fossil fuels generated greenhouse gas emissions that acted like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
Examples of greenhouse gas emissions that caused climate change included carbon dioxide and methane. These originated from activities such as using gasoline for driving a car or burning coal for heating a building. Clearing land and forests also released carbon dioxide, while landfills for garbage were a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, and land use were among the main emitters.
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