ClimaTracker Investigations

  • A pilot project in Mpumalanga’s energy heartland aims to capture air pollution and store it in the ground. Thabo Molelekwa looks into this controversial technology...

    24 April, 2024

  • Still reeling from environmental and public health problems caused by lead mining, the country now faces growing manganese demand for electric batteries. Oscar Nkala investigates...

    16 April, 2024

  • Development of R155-million LNG pilot in Amersfoort promoted as a way to alleviate energy shortages while South Africa transitions to renewable energy. Thabo Molelekwa investigates...

    23 February, 2024

  • Cobalt is a critical energy transition mineral, but its use in batteries and electric vehicles comes at a high price for the Democratic Republic Congo. Oscar Nkala investigates...

    14 February, 2024

  • Mining companies cashing in on global demand for cobalt are destroying protected nature reserves in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Jonas Kiriko investigates...

    05 February, 2024

  • John Grobler travels to the Daures Green Hydrogen Village pilot project in Namibia to find some answers...

    23 January, 2024

  • Puros is the northern-most of three ‘hydrogen valleys’ identified in the Namibian government’s GH2 masterplan. John Grobler visited to find out why...

    18 January, 2024

  • Financing for the Just Energy Transition is increasing, but is being undermined by indebted municipalities in Mpumalanga that are not bankable. Thabo Molelekwa investigates...

    29 November, 2023

  • Namibia’s ambitious GH2 project poses threats to a sensitive biodiversity hotspot and local communities, critics say. John Grobler investigates...

    17 November, 2023

  • Hyphen’s ambitious GH2 venture is flawed and opaque, according to local critics. John Grobler spoke to them...

    16 November, 2023

  • Mozambique's Energy for All programme has made great strides in far northern Mozambique, but not everyone is happy with it. Buanamade Assane investigates...

    30 October, 2023

  • HySHiFT project at Secunda is pioneering sustainable aviation fuel to help meet South Africa’s industry decarbonisation goals. Thabo Molelekwa investigates...

    25 October, 2023

  • Government authorities and communities have switched to solar panels and photovoltaic plants to power health units, schools and water supply systems, reports Nelsa Momade Pedro...

    17 October, 2023

  • Investors are keen to support solar power in Northern Mozambique, but development on the ground is slow to take off. Amade Abubacar investigates why...

    10 October, 2023

  • South Africa expects more pledges as COP28 gathers steam, but how far have Western countries come in delivering on previous commitments they made? Thabo Molelekwa investigates...

    22 September, 2023

  • Wheeling electricity offers a solution to South Africa’s power crisis, so why is it not happening in the energy heartland? Andiswa Matikinca and Thabo Molelekwa investigate...

    30 August, 2023

  • Thabo Molelekwa gets an update on the training and community support programmes taking shape at Eskom’s pilot renewable energy plant...

    13 July, 2023

  • Coal lobbying has long been an influential force in South Africa’s politics and economy. Thabo Molelekwa investigates its impacts on green energy investments...

    19 June, 2023

  • Much has been made about the US$8.5-billion pledged to support South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. Thabo Molelekwa investigates where it is...

    23 May, 2023

  • A business coalition in SA’s energy heartland proposes a private take-over of Eskom’s assets – but not everyone agrees with privatising energy production. Andiswa Matikinca reports...

    15 May, 2023

  • SA’s transition to renewable energy is challenged by a shortage of skills development and training. Thabo Molelekwa investigates, with support from the Pulitzer Center...

    04 April, 2023

  • 'Get-rich-quick’ coal prospecting rights threaten ecologically & economically vulnerable areas bordering Hluhluwe-iMfolozi reserve. Tony Carnie investigates for Our Burning Planet...

    10 March, 2023

  • South Africa’s power capital is being left behind in the race for renewable energy generation, reports Andiswa Matikinca...

    02 March, 2023

  • Environmentalists and coal-dependent communities say people at the frontline of SA’s energy transition are in the dark about how it will unfold. Thabo Molelekwa speaks to them...

    25 January, 2023

  • Mpumalanga, the province ‘where the sun rises’, takes centre stage in SA’s Just Energy Transition Plan. Yolandi Groenewald unpicks the details...

    18 November, 2022

  • Giant sugar companies in Eswatini diversified into biopower cogeneration to keep the lights on, but how long will the strategy last? Phathizwe Zulu investigates...

    21 October, 2022

  • An ambitious public-private biogas project needs to be scaled up if it is to contribute to Botswana’s renewable energy targets by 2030. Sharon Tshipa investigates...

    06 October, 2022

  • In response to extreme climate fall-out, Zimbabwe is ramping up its transition to electric vehicles as one of its key mitigation measures. Debra Matabvu investigates...

    28 September, 2022

  • Independent producers are already feeding enough power into the grid to replace two coal-fired stations. Thabo Molelekwa investigates the status of SA’s renewable energy roll-out...

    22 September, 2022

  • A wind farm hailed as Africa’s largest renewable energy project and the solution to Lesotho’s hefty electricity costs has ground to a halt. Sechaba Mokhethi investigates why...

    16 September, 2022

  • While the world is shifting away from fossil fuels, data on planned new mines indicates the coal mining industry might not be winding down any time soon. Andiswa Matikinca reports...

    25 June, 2021

  • South Africa and its allies at the COP24 climate negotiations are pushing for a strong rulebook on the Paris Agreement. Yolandi Groenewald reports from Katowice...

    13 December, 2018

  • Story about Patricia de Lille’s struggle to access climate funding for drought-stricken Cape Town wins United Nations contest...

    02 November, 2018

  • Cape Town’s ‘Day Zero’ sets an example for other cities faced with doomsday climate scenarios. Yolandi Groenewald reports...

    03 October, 2018

  • Three years after drought-stricken Cape Town applied to the global Green Climate Fund, the city’s application is still pending. Yolandi Groenewald reports...

    17 September, 2018

  • The death of ancient trees in southern Africa not only affects biodiversity but will have a huge impact on society in general, reports Louise de Bruin...

    04 July, 2018

  • Ground-breaking termite study shows climate change is altering Africa’s savannahs, and how ecosystems could stop functioning as a result. Louise de Bruin reports...

    07 June, 2018

  • Lessons we learnt from experimenting with savvy storytelling tech to tell visually strong and impactful multimedia investigations...

    10 November, 2017

  • Disrupting the Future: How communities and experts work together to reduce flood disaster risks in Limpopo. A multimedia #ClimaTracker investigation by Anina Mumm When the Western ...

    25 July, 2017

  • Adapt, or die: How do people survive when there's no water in their taps and the dams are bone-dry? A multimedia investigation by Yolandi Groenewald and Johnny Miller...

    05 May, 2017

  • President Jacob Zuma is talking tough about radical land redistribution and the expropriation of farms. If reform is not well targeted it may threaten food security and benefit onl...

    26 April, 2017

  • The Northern Cape is mostly a dry province, but preventing malaria is one of the measures it is taking to adapt to climate change, reports Rehana Dada...

    29 March, 2017

  • There has never been a more urgent time for Cape Town to adapt or die. Yolandi Groenewald investigates the measures city authorities are taking to survive the water woes...

    07 March, 2017

  • Some farmers believe it is the wild rooibos plant that holds the secret to keeping climate change at bay, rather than its domesticated cousin. Yolandi Groenewald reports Rooibos te...

    28 February, 2017

  • Traditional food crops that have adapted to climate change and poor soils hold the key to food security, but is enough being done to conserve them?...

    12 December, 2016

  • In response to climate change farmers prefer livestock species that are heat and drought tolerant, as well as disease and parasite resistant, writes Kennedy Dzama The climate of th...

    01 December, 2016

  • Small-scale farmers observe crop yield increases in a time of drought due to adaptation interventions Local farmers in the uMgungundlovu District in KwaZulu-Natal have recently sta...

    23 November, 2016

  • South Africa is one of the world's leading wine producers, 95% of it in the Western Cape. Yolandi Groenewald investigates the delicate tightrope wine farmers have ...

    16 November, 2016

  • Terence Govender, vice-president of development at the giant SolarReserve project in the Northern Cape, talks to Tholakele Nene about the benefits of investing in renewable energy ...

    19 July, 2016

  • Tholakele Nene finds out how giant solar power projects are making a difference to rural lives affected by climate change in semi-desert areas of the Northern Cape...

    04 July, 2016

  • By Locadia Mavhudzi Approximately 4.5-million people, more than 30% of Zimbabwe’s population, will be in need of food aid by next March, according to recent estimates by the United...

    24 June, 2016

  • Not even being famous or royal will protect you from Namibia’s crippling drought, writes John Grobler Namibia’s famous desert lion Harry, named after the British prince, has been s...

    17 June, 2016

  • A multimedia investigation by Mark Olalde exposes the threats Lake Malawi faces from climate change and overuse ...

    23 February, 2016

  • A huge environmental restoration project aims to save one of the world’s most important estuaries threatened by climate change. Report by Yolandi Groenewald</st...

    22 February, 2016

  • Heat exhaustion is likely to occur when the human body’s temperature rises above 38℃, according to a recent study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)...

    16 February, 2016

  • This new high was set in Vredendal, a small town in the Western Cape, where a maximum temperature of 48.3 ℃ was recorded on that date. The previous highest October......

    16 February, 2016

  • Scientists say 2015 was the warmest year ever recorded. According to research conducted by the South Africa’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), near surfa...

    16 February, 2016

  • South Africa has issued a preliminary forecast of maize production for the coming harvest of 7.4 million tonnes – a drop of 25% from the already poor production levels of......

    15 February, 2016

  • Should game reserves intervene to save wildlife during climate change? Yolandi Groenewald took the debate to a drought-stricken protected area that has been forced...

    27 January, 2016

  • Conservationists are warning that South Africa’s drought might represent a bigger threat to rhinos, and wildlife in general, than poaching. Yolandi Groenewald reports...

    18 January, 2016

  • South Africa is in the grip of the worst drought since 1992. It is likely to get even worse in 2016 with the ever-increasing heat caused by El Niño, reports Tholakele N...

    20 November, 2015

  • SA is party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and has to produce a plan of action before the end of the year. Steps taken so far have not been e...

    22 June, 2015

  • As the second largest economy in Africa, is South Africa in a position where it has to act on climate change? It is the perfect moment to resolve that question, writes ...

    19 June, 2015

  • Central Africa need elephants to increase oxygen and food productivity, and to fight climate change, writes Israel Bionyi...

    19 August, 2014

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