Bottom-up visions of Green Industrialisation research paper
The Climate Justice Coalition is proud to share our research on bottom-up visions of green industrialisation in South Africa.
This research builds on years of collective learning and discussion within the Coalition. The research sprouted from conversations on a People’s Green New Deal at our Political School in KwaZulu-Natal in 2024, as well as our Economic Justice webinar series over 2023, 2024 and 2025. The webinar series aimed to create foundational and intersectional knowledge on economic justice and climate justice.
Economic justice is a core pillar of the Climate Justice Coalition’s vision for transformative justice. To support coalition members in building a shared understanding of these issues, we hosted the Planting the Seeds of Justice webinar series starting in 2023, followed by Nurturing the Seeds of Justice in 2025.
In 2025, the Coalition responded to a call from the Transnational Institute (TNI) on prospects and challenges for Green Industrialisation in the Global South, to explore what green industrialisation could look like from a climate justice perspective. Building on the existing work of the economic justice working group, we conducted participatory research with Coalition members, communities, workers, and activists. We used this research to develop a vision of green industrialisation rooted in democratic participation, community needs and envisionings, ecological sustainability, and economic justice.
We are grateful to the Transnational Institute for supporting this research. As part of this collaboration, our Deputy Secretary Tara Nair van Ryneveld, and Steering Committee member, Motlatsi Makhasane, participated in a Global South Green Industrial Policy Autumn School alongside researchers and activists from across the Global South, where they presented the research paper based on this work.
To learn more about the research and its findings:
Listen to our Just Us and the Climate podcast episode featuring a discussion with some of the researchers here.
The full research paper is also available here.
With thanks to barefootguide for their illustrations used in creating the featured images.