Webinar: Unpacking South Africa’s Road to Building Back Better, Fairer and Greener The EU’s Green New Deal and its implications for South Africa


Wednesday 6 April 2022: 10:00-12:00 (GMT+2)
RSVP: Register in advance for this webinar here

Background
The The European Green Deal (EGD) is a is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. These policy initiatives aim to make all sectors of the European Union’s economy fit to contribute to the European Union reaching its climate targets by 2030 in a fair, cost-effective and competitive way. The EGD proposes several action plans and initiatives in priority areas, which include energy, land, biodiversity, clean air, sustainable foods and buildings, among others. South African exporters to the European Union will need to adapt to this change, to assure their long-term competitiveness in a changing market. This webinar will look at the EGD and its potential implications for South African trade with the European Union. The particular proposed headline initiative of the EGD in the form of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will be covered, while an analysis of potential opportunities to expand trade associated with “environmental goods” products will be discussed.

Programme

10:00-10:10 Welcome and introduction

10:10-10:40 Overview of the EDG

10:40-11:10 Panel Discussion: EDG Trade Impacts for South Africa

11:10-11:40 Open discussion (Q&A)

11:40-12:00 Wrap up

About the speakers

Ariane Labat is currently counsellor for climate action, environment and agriculture at the EU Delegation to South Africa, after four years as head of cooperation for the EU Delegation to the Kingdom of Eswatini. Ariane was previously cluster lead mitigation for the EU international negotiation team at the UNFCCC from Cancun to the Paris Agreement; she had further previous assignments as an economist working to unlock sustainable and inclusive growth opportunities in Europe, Latin America and China.

Lerato Valentia Monaisa is an Economist and works in the Sustainable Growth pillar at TIPS. She has a Bachelor of Economics (with a distinction in economics) and Bachelor of Economics Honours (with distinction) from Rhodes University. She has MPhil in Industrial Policy at the University of Johannesburg.

Trudi Hartzenberg is the Executive Director of tralac. She has a special interest in trade-relatedcapacity building. Her research areas include trade policy issues, regional integration, investment,industrial and competition policy.

Martin Cameron is a quantitative economist specialising in quantitative executive decision support modelling, economic impact analysis and engineering management decision support. He has extensive experience in international trade and energy economics.

Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity, and Agriculture. Sihlobo is Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.

Karen Bosman works as a Strategic Research and Public Affairs Officer at Wesgro. Areas o fexperience include international trade and investment law; policy advocacy; export development and international investment promotion and facilitation; strategic communication; legislative and constitutional processes; legislative analysis; regulation of international services trade; regional economic harmonisation; commercial law and litigation. She has a Master’s Degree in International Business and Economic Law from Georgetown University.

Melisizwe Tyiso works as a Researcher at the National Labour and Economic Institute (NALEDI).

About the facilitator

Elize Hattingh is a Sustainable Growth researcher at TIPS. She has been actively involved in promoting the sustainable development agenda for more than 15 years.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday 6 April 2022
Time: 10h00 – 12h00 (GMT+2)
RSVP: Register in advance for this webinar here
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with details about joining the webinar.

The Green Recovery Dialogues comprises four webinars

Next Event
6 April – Session 2: The EU’s Green New Deal and its implications for South Africa
Past Event: Launch
15 February – Session 1: South Africa’s recovery and stimulus package by global standards – Launch event of the Green Economy Tracker, see details including video of the session here
Future Events: Save the dates!
1 June – Session 3: Just transition and South Africa’s recovery and stimulus package
3 August – Session 4: Building Back Better Greener, SMME`s road to recovery

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