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Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation
Among the foremost challenges of the 21st century are sustainable development and climate change mitigation. In light of these challenges, this thesis seeks to analyse and compare the extent to which development and climate change mitigation are aligned on a policy level in three countries in the gl...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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African Climate and Development Initiative
2019
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| _version_ | 1867614358140354560 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mahachi, Heather |
| author2 | Winkler, Harald |
| author_browse | Mahachi, Heather Winkler, Harald |
| author_facet | Winkler, Harald Mahachi, Heather |
| author_sort | Mahachi, Heather |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Among the foremost challenges of the 21st century are sustainable development and climate change mitigation. In light of these challenges, this thesis seeks to analyse and compare the extent to which development and climate change mitigation are aligned on a policy level in three countries in the global south, namely South Africa, India and Mexico. These three middle-income countries are plagued by high levels of poverty and large inequality gaps, and address the challenge of reducing GHG emissions in this context. The objectives of this study are fourfold: (1) an analysis of each country’s climate change policies mainly its Nationally Determined Contributions and climate response strategies and assesses to which extent development is addressed; (2) analysis of each country’s national development plans and the extent to which climate change mitigation is addressed; (3) based on the initial analysis, assessing the overall extent to which the development and climate policies are aligned; and (4) a comparative analysis of how each country performed in this regard. The study found that South Africa, India and Mexico are in pursuit of lower carbon development in the years to come. Targets for reducing their emissions in light of climate change considerations have been set and sectoral approaches to low carbon development are illustrated to varying degrees. South Africa was found to have done relatively well in integrating development and poverty alleviation into its national climate policy. The detailed analysis presented in the thesis found this at national scale, while a focus on co-benefits was particularly well integrated in Mexico’s and India’s climate policy. Thus the thesis shows that each country could learn or adopt some approaches to alignment from the other – and that there are several benefits associated with aligning development and climate policies. More research would need to be conducted at a finer scale to identify the trade-offs of certain mitigation actions and this information should be used in future national and sectoral development. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29360 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:50:46.310Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | African Climate and Development Initiative |
| publisherStr | African Climate and Development Initiative |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29360 Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation Mahachi, Heather Winkler, Harald Climate Change and Sustainable Development Among the foremost challenges of the 21st century are sustainable development and climate change mitigation. In light of these challenges, this thesis seeks to analyse and compare the extent to which development and climate change mitigation are aligned on a policy level in three countries in the global south, namely South Africa, India and Mexico. These three middle-income countries are plagued by high levels of poverty and large inequality gaps, and address the challenge of reducing GHG emissions in this context. The objectives of this study are fourfold: (1) an analysis of each country’s climate change policies mainly its Nationally Determined Contributions and climate response strategies and assesses to which extent development is addressed; (2) analysis of each country’s national development plans and the extent to which climate change mitigation is addressed; (3) based on the initial analysis, assessing the overall extent to which the development and climate policies are aligned; and (4) a comparative analysis of how each country performed in this regard. The study found that South Africa, India and Mexico are in pursuit of lower carbon development in the years to come. Targets for reducing their emissions in light of climate change considerations have been set and sectoral approaches to low carbon development are illustrated to varying degrees. South Africa was found to have done relatively well in integrating development and poverty alleviation into its national climate policy. The detailed analysis presented in the thesis found this at national scale, while a focus on co-benefits was particularly well integrated in Mexico’s and India’s climate policy. Thus the thesis shows that each country could learn or adopt some approaches to alignment from the other – and that there are several benefits associated with aligning development and climate policies. More research would need to be conducted at a finer scale to identify the trade-offs of certain mitigation actions and this information should be used in future national and sectoral development. 2019-02-06T12:33:41Z 2019-02-06T12:33:41Z 2018 2019-02-06T09:34:54Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29360 eng application/pdf African Climate and Development Initiative Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Climate Change and Sustainable Development Mahachi, Heather Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| title_full | Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| title_fullStr | Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| title_short | Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| title_sort | towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the global south a comparative analysis of south africa india and mexico s approach to development and climate change mitigation |
| topic | Climate Change and Sustainable Development |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29360 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mahachiheather towardszeroemissionsandzeropovertyintheglobalsouthacomparativeanalysisofsouthafricaindiaandmexicosapproachtodevelopmentandclimatechangemitigation |