“Green Economy” Policy for SOEs Still in Draft Form

Department of Public Enterprises

A policy to guide state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in their engagement with the challenges of moving towards a green economy is still in draft form and awaiting the outcome of consultations with individual SOEs.

This is according to public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba, who made the remark during an address at the Development Bank of Southern Africa’s recent knowledge week on “greening infrastructure programmes”.

The minister referred to three key design principles informing the policy:

•    the need for SOEs to focus on optimising the overlap between commercial, economic, developmental and environmental objectives, whilst carefully managing areas where these objectives conflict;
•    the importance, over time, of climate change and related broader environmental and green economy considerations underpinning SOE planning, procurement and operational processes; and
•    the need for flexibility in the way each SOE responds to the challenges of climate change, given the diversity of sectors within which it operates.

Minister Gigaba said that, in its current form, the draft policy required each SOE to develop a strategic plan, with “concrete initiatives” for addressing the issue of climate change, reducing carbon emissions and developing a green economy.

Meanwhile, the department of public enterprises has conducted renewable energy-related market sensitivity and quantitative analyses, as a step towards developing “an institutional, technology and funding strategy” for the South African renewables initiative (SARi).

This is according to a recent presentation on the annual report for 2010/11 to members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public enterprises.

Also mentioned in the presentation were:

•    that a “a policy for programmatic and transactional procurement” had been drafted, focusing on “supplier development”;
•    a review of legislation affecting the proposed shareholder management model for state-owned companies, which had been completed;
•    a report on the implications for state-owned companies of Companies Act 71 of 2008, which had been submitted to the department of trade and industry; and
•    the development of a draft paper on proposed amendments to National Ports Act 12 of 2005 (in terms of which the national ports authority and ports regulator were established).

Sabinet Cape Town Office

Sabinet Cape Town Office