Why green mobility is central to South Africa’s Just Energy Transition

Every morning, millions of South Africans step into taxis, delivery vehicles, buses, and trucks to earn a living, reach schools, or access essential services. For drivers, gig workers, and commuters alike, transport is more than movement, it is income, dignity, and access to opportunity.

Yet these daily journeys are becoming more expensive and increasingly fragile. Volatile fuel prices, unreliable energy systems, and intensifying climate shocks are placing mounting pressure on households and businesses. Against this backdrop, South Africa’s shift to clean energy and green mobility is no longer a long-term ambition. It is an urgent economic and social imperative.

The South Africa Business Initiative for Impact (SABII) is helping to reframe this transition, not as a technical exercise, but as a people-centered transformation. Anchored in the United Nations’ Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI), SABII convenes business, government, and development partners to co-create solutions that deliver inclusive growth across four interconnected pillars: Digitization; Energy Transition; Food Systems Transformation; and Human Capital Development. Together, these efforts align with South Africa’s National Development Plan, the UN’s 2030 Agenda, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

At the heart of SABII’s work lies a defining question: How can South Africa decarbonize its economy while ensuring that workers, communities, women, and young people are not left behind?

Green Mobility as a Human Transition

Green mobility sits at the center of this challenge. Transport is one of the country’s fastest-growing sources of emissions, but it is also one of its greatest opportunities for job creation, innovation, and inclusion. Transitioning to cleaner transport systems has the potential to lower operating costs for drivers, improve air quality in densely populated areas, and unlock new industries linked to electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and clean energy generation.

However, the transition will not happen overnight. It requires an intentional shift in policy, investment, and skills development. Decarbonizing transport demands a diversified energy mix, including renewables and emerging technologies such as hydrogen supported by clear regulations and targeted incentives that enable new solutions to scale.

Across heavy industry, logistics, and mining, pilot projects replacing diesel-powered vehicles with cleaner alternatives are already demonstrating what is possible. These shifts are not only reducing emissions; they are also creating demand for new skills and technical expertise, opening pathways for workers to transition into future-facing jobs.

Incentives That Enable Change

Change, however, is rarely easy. For many businesses and consumers, unfamiliar technologies can feel risky or inaccessible. Strategic incentives play a critical role in easing this shift not as permanent subsidies, but as catalysts that help new markets take root.

In the transport and logistics sector, cleaner mobility offers a powerful economic advantage. By integrating electric vehicles with on-site renewable energy, such as solar, wind, or hydrogen companies can begin to control their own energy supply. What this means is that if fleet and delivery operators and small businesses produce their own clean electricity and use it to run their vehicles, they can stop being at the mercy of electricity and fuel suppliers. 

Inclusion Beyond Ownership

A just energy transition must also confront deeper structural inequalities. Inclusion cannot be limited to shareholding or symbolic participation. It must extend to operational involvement, skills transfer, and real economic power.

Women-owned businesses, small enterprises, and historically marginalized entrepreneurs have a critical role to play in building South Africa’s green industrial future. Yet meaningful participation depends on access to finance, technical skills, and procurement opportunities that prioritize local capacity.

Developing domestic manufacturing and supply chains is particularly important. Despite significant investment in renewable energy, much of the value still flows offshore through imported technologies. Building local industrial capability even where it requires higher upfront costs has the potential to create sustainable jobs, retain capital within the country, and strengthen economic sovereignty.

Lessons from Global Markets

Experiences from other emerging markets show that green mobility can scale rapidly when access and affordability are prioritized. In countries such as Brazil and India, electric mobility has gained traction through rental models, platform-supported financing, and dense charging networks that lower barriers for drivers and small operators.

These models offer valuable lessons for South Africa. Rather than focusing solely on ownership, enabling access to electric vehicles through rentals, shared infrastructure, and integrated digital platforms can accelerate adoption while protecting livelihoods, particularly in the fast-growing last-mile delivery sector.

Turning Visibility into Action

As South Africa leverages global platforms such as the G20 and B20, green mobility presents a strategic opportunity to attract investment, technology transfer, and partnerships that support long-term development goals. But visibility alone is not enough. What matters most is what the country can demonstrate — tangible progress, local innovation, and a credible pathway to a just transition.

SABII calls on businesses to move from dialogue to delivery by making time-bound commitments to invest in:

1. Green fleets and charging infrastructure
2. Clean energy generation, transmission, and distribution
3. Inclusive value chains that place youth, women, and SMMEs at the centre
4. Skills development aligned with the future of work

Because a just energy transition is not only about reducing emissions. It is about reshaping systems so that every journey from factory floor to last-mile delivery moves South Africa closer to equity, resilience, and shared prosperity.