South African energy: opinion piece questions green hydrogen
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Maverick
Illustrative image · EG Images · Pexels · Licence PexelsIn an opinion piece published by Daily Maverick, the author recalls that in 1989 the chemical workers' union called for disinvestment "on our terms", to avoid abandoning workers. She questions the weight of large companies in the country’s energy choices, at a summit on green hydrogen.
Invited to speak at a side event of the Presidential Climate Commission at the Green Hydrogen Summit, the author of this opinion piece published by Daily Maverick chose to wear a 1989 T-shirt designed by the chemical workers' union under apartheid, which proclaimed "Disinvest on our terms", meaning "Désinvestir selon nos conditions".
According to her, the slogan recalled that multinationals leaving South Africa in the 1980s did not really leave: they handed their operations to their managers, kept licences and technical agreements, and continued to profit from the movement while gaining a moral benefit. The unions called this process "corporate camouflage", a forerunner of what is today known as greenwashing. The author believes that a just transition concerns not only miners but also workers in the automotive, steel and chemical sectors, and questions green hydrogen, presented as the bridge to a low-carbon economy.
