Increasingly, green hydrogen features prominently in the decarbonisation plans being adopted around the world. Given excellent wind and sun resources, much of it will be produced in global south countries, and exported to global north countries. Countries in the Southern African region are taking notice, and positioning themselves to benefit from these potentially lucrative future markets, by making significant infrastructure investments. But what is green hydrogen? Will investing in it really create jobs and wealth? This booklet presents accessible information regarding the promises, risks and impacts green hydrogen could have for communities in South Africa. It was developed as part of HBF CT’s work to uphold host communities’ right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, and support civil society capacity to engage in hydrogen related policy.
In February 2023, the Child Support Grant of R480 is 28% below the Food Poverty Line of R663, and 44% below the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet (R864,06).
This month we have included A Comment on the Eskom hike and National Minimum Wage which shows how the Eskom hike cuts government’s National Minimum Wage proposed offer in half.
For the past three months fuel prices and global food commodity prices have come down, yet we do not see a corresponding drop in food prices at the retail level.
As we write this in March of 2022, our review of the year 2021 is overshadowed by Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. Because of this, not only foreign policy, but also domestic politics have now entered a new era. We are facing enormous challenges that also have a strong impact on our work here at the Foundation.
The escalation of food inflation on basic staple foods, one which households cannot absorb, and one where no apparent relief is forthcoming, at least in the near-term, is a major concern.
