Big guns serious about green?

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

While most of South Africa was focused on the build up to the World Cup final last week, politicians down in Cape Town were confronting issues of sustainability and climate change. On 7 July 2010 Western Cape Premier Helen Zille unveiled the provincial government’s plan for a greener city by 2014.

The four-year plan consists of six priority areas namely climate change, water management, pollution and waste management, biodiversity management, agricultural land use management and the built environment.

Some key targets of the plan:

• 15 % of all electricity used in the Western Cape to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2014
• 5 – 10% reduction in total electricity used in schools and hospitals
• Improve agricultural, industrial, commercial and household water use efficiency by 5 – 10% by 2014
• Increase waste diversion from landfill sites to 15% by 2014
• Improve conservation farming practices by 5 percent by 2014

MEC for Development Planning and Environmental Affairs Anton Bredell admitted that the targets are high, but said that this would push the team to succeed.

Further a-field

Zille isn’t the only government leader making green headlines at the moment. It has been reported that USA president Barack Obama will attend a ceremony at LG Chem’s electric car battery plant in Michigan later this week. Obama’s attendance is a clear show of support for the green auto industry in line with his environmental priorities.

The more influential leaders throwing their weight behind the fight against climate change – the better the odds for meaningful progress!