Invest in Climate Secure Cape Town Series: Episode 1

The 'Invest in Climate Secure Cape Town' series showcases how Cape Town is a) committed and accountable to investing into building climate resilience, b) globally recognised for climate leadership, resilience building in responding to climate crisis and building pro-active plans based on the learnings and c) known for its supportive and inclusive green economy business ecosystem.

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Episode Overview

This episode is part of the "Invest in climate secure Cape Town series", a two-part series supported by the City of Cape Town Department of Enterprise & Investment, produced in partnership with City of Cape Town Risk and Resilience Department in the Future Planning and Resilience Directorate and GreenCape, featuring Gareth Morgan, Executive Director for Future Planning & Resilience, City of Cape Town.

Episode Summary

• 00:00:00 In this section, Gareth Morgan, Executive Director for Planning and Resilience at the City of Cape Town, discusses the Future Planning and Resilience Directorate in the City of Cape Town. Established two and a half years ago, the directorate aims to consider planning from a long-term perspective, including climate change, population change, economic change, and various other global forces. The team of about 350 professionals works to influence planning across the organisation and collaborates with other directors to achieve their goals. Cape Town faces several climatic stresses, including drought, a projected decrease in mean annual rainfall, increased incidents of fire, flooding, and storm surge. The city has experienced extreme rain events, which can cause significant upheaval when they intersect with the urban environment.
• 00:05:00 In this section Gareth discusses the city's history of climatic stresses and shocks, including storm surges and high heat days, and how these are being addressed in planning documents. The city of Cape Town has implemented various adaptation strategies, such as the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which aims to deliver basic services while taking into account the changing climate. The IDP includes climate tagging for all programs and initiatives, making the entire document a climate response. Additionally, there are specific climate action, resilience, water, and energy strategies in place, all of which contribute to the city's overall climate resilience. The city is also investing heavily in project management to execute these strategies effectively.
• 00:10:00 In this section Gareth Morgan discusses the importance of analysing the execution of climate change projects in Cape Town and how the city has integrated climate considerations into its governance processes. The City of Cape Town has moved away from treating climate change as a standalone issue and instead integrates it into risk management, business continuity management, and project and portfolio management. Every project manager in the city is expected to tag their projects for climate benefit in the Enterprise Management System, which has been in use for about three years. This integration of climate considerations into project management improves the ability to analyse the portfolio's response to climate change impacts. The city also runs a year-long "Let's Act" campaign to encourage community action and has fully integrated climate change into its Strategic Management Framework.
• 00:15:00 In this section Gareth discusses how climate change is being integrated into the governance processes of the City of Cape Town through existing legislation. The city is demonstrating accountability for climate resilience investments by publishing infrastructure reports, which are self-critiques that identify areas of improvement and encourage more projects in the portfolio that respond to climate-related challenges. The infrastructure report for the past two years identified the need for more projects addressing floods and droughts, and the city has shown progress in this area. The portfolio for the next 10 years includes about R55.5 billion for projects with specific climate benefits, and the city is transparent about these projects to attract investment and partnerships. The community, both environmental and investment, has responded positively to the city's efforts to take climate change seriously and invest in a sustainable future.
• 00:20:00 In this section, the city's commitment to climate resilience and substantial infrastructure investments are discussed as providing a competitive advantage and ensuring long-term business resilience for investors. The city's experience with extreme drought and load shedding is highlighted as causing significant disruptions to businesses, and Cape Town's response is to become water and energy secure. The city intends to achieve water resilience by 2030 and counter four stages of load shedding from the national utility by around 2026-2027. Key infrastructure projects include investments in renewing, rehabilitating, and building new infrastructure, with a focus on decentralised, green or renewable energy solutions. These projects are expected to accelerate the transition to a carbon-neutral economy in Cape Town.
• 00:25:00 In this section Gareth discusses the city's water and energy portfolios as part of its climate resilience strategy. The water portfolio includes a committed component of 300 million litres of additional water per day by 2030 through aquifer abstraction, recharge, desalination, and direct water reuse. An adaptable component is also planned for execution between 2030 and 2040, aiming for water resilience by 2030 and water sensitivity by 2040. The city's goal is to reduce reliance on surface water from dams to 75% by 2040, with the remaining 25% coming from desalination, aquifer extraction, or direct water reuse. In the energy sector, the city aims for energy security through independent power producers, load reduction programs, wheeling, battery storage, and dispatch-able IP, with a significant amount of these projects already in execution. Cape Town has been globally recognised for its efforts in climate resilience, particularly in water management and energy security.
• 00:30:00 In this section Gareth Morgan discusses Cape Town's role in global networks focused on advancing responses to climate change. The city is a member of the C40, a network of around 100 mayors, and the Resilient Cities Network, which brings together chief resilience officers from around the world. Cape Town also has an "A" rating from the CDP, the Climate Disclosure Project, making it the only African city with this recognition. The city's climate response and rating are of great interest to the investment community and credit rating agencies. Cape Town received a special mention in the 2024 Lee Kuan Yew World Cities Prize, one of the most prestigious city prizes in the world, for its efforts to build resilience and learn from past extreme events, such as the drought, and plan for the future in a more climate-conscious way.

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