This research paper reviews the Mpumalanga sample of 26 projects in South Africa, which covered a range of economic diversification interventions, and outlines their characteristics and financing needs. All the projects were designed specifically to provide alternative employment and livelihood opportunities for workers and communities negatively affected by climate change and decarbonization activities.
The research shows that while the funding for decarbonization and just transition investments are fundamentally interrelated, intertwined (and usually negotiated as a single package of funding), decarbonization transactions and just transition transactions will chase different outcome measures resulting in different risk return profiles and different instruments and deployment channels. It is therefore necessary to understand just transition finance supply and demand as a separate use of funds.