UCT Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 - Report - Page 36
7
Environmentally
sustainable &
climate resilient
economies &
communities
SDG 13: CLIMATE ACTION
Climate change is predicted to impact on all aspects of human life. However, it will not play
out in the same way across regions. As different areas are affected differently, there needs
to be appropriate planning and adaptation measures in place, and these locally appropriate
measures need to be driven by robust research. UCT is home to several high-impact
climate change research units that work with both communities and government to drive
evidence-informed policy in South Africa and Africa.
African Climate and
Development Initiative
The African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI)
is an inter- and transdisciplinary research and training
institute. The ACDI brings together academics and
researchers from UCT and other higher education and
research institutions with business, civil society and
government actors to co-produce and test new insights,
evidence and innovations that will help to solve Africa’s
climate and development challenges.
Climate Resilient Development
Pathways for South Africa
In 2022, ACDI researchers completed a process of
knowledge-development and engagements with the
South African Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) on
36 – University of Cape Town
how a Climate Resilient Development Pathways (CRDPs)
approach could be operationalised in various South
African contexts to navigate a just climate transition.
The team explored the potential application and valueadd of a CRDPs approach in the contexts of eThekwini
and Saldanha Bay, which led to a set of four high-level
proposals for taking the CRDPs work forward.
A review of CRDPs approaches implemented elsewhere
in the Global South was also published in the journal
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. This
foundational work has led to further collaborative
engagements with Western Cape and Eastern Cape
government colleagues and consultants working to
implement the CRDP framework in their planning
processes, as well as co-designing a peer-to-peer
learning exchange for municipal officials.
