South Africa is at COP26 to discuss how to avoid a climate disaster, this is the plan. 

The Presidential Climate Commission was tasked to both move South Africa towards a low carbon economy while managing the impact from potential disruption to jobs. 

The idea of a just transition looks to both deal with how to lower our CO2 emissions and give those employed and dependent on those industries to maintain or ideally improve on the current conditions.

While the focus is on the energy sector, carbon emissions include agriculture, manufacturing, mining and transport. 

The plan would need to address emissions across the board to achieve the first of the two key jargon terms. Net-zero and zero-carbon.

In trying to achieve this the measures may use mitigation or adaptation.

The time frame to achieve the goal is 2050. That is 29 years from now, for most South Africans that is longer than their lifetimes. For those that are older it is about the time since South Africa has been a democracy. If you consider what we have managed to achieve since then you would either be optimistic or very doubtful we have the time or even the political will or ability to achieve it.

Here is a brief explanation of each.