South Africa’s Green Skills Push Connects Energy Investment to Jobs and Local Opportunity

One major deliverable is the JET ATLAS, Anticipating Talent, Labour and Skills, an interactive dashboard that forecasts the supply and demand for skills across South African municipalities.

South Africa's renewable energy and power projects could do more than expand electricity supply. The African Development Bank Group and the National Business Initiative (NBI) are working to connect that investment with skills, jobs for young people, opportunities for women, and openings for local businesses.

At Johannesburg's Green Livelihoods Summit on 13 October 2026, the partners shared progress on phase one of the Just Energy Transition Skilling for Employment Programme (JET SEP). The programme is supported by a US$1 million grant from the Bank through the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance. Its new tools and studies are intended to help move South Africa's green skills system from planning into wider implementation. The summit recording features the announcement.

A clearer picture of green skills is needed

One major deliverable is the JET ATLAS, Anticipating Talent, Labour and Skills, an interactive dashboard that forecasts the supply and demand for skills across South African municipalities. The information is meant to help employers, training providers and public agencies see where skills are needed and where people may need access to training.

The NBI is delivering JET SEP under a mandate from the Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in the South African Presidency. Its role is to bring business support behind Chapter 9, the skills chapter of the Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan.

Skills Development Zones take shape

A feasibility study for Skills Development Zones (SDZs) has been endorsed by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The department plans to launch three zones: Nkangala on 29 October 2026, the Northern Cape on 18 November 2026, and the Eastern Cape in March 2027.

The zones are part of an effort to connect skills development with local demand as the energy transition creates new work. The programme also aims to make the green economy more accessible to women, young people and local businesses.

Research to inform the next phase

Two further studies are due to be formally launched at COP 31 in Antalya, Türkiye: Building an Inclusive and Responsive Skills Ecosystem for a Just Energy Transition and Powering Futures 2.0: Two Years of Progress, Learning and Opportunity. Their findings are intended to contribute to the next stage of programme delivery.

The NBI's CEO, Shameela Soobramoney, set an ambition of enabling 100,000 green jobs by 2030. She called for employers to give clearer signals about the skills they need, funding to align better with those needs, more contracts for small businesses, and shared ways to track progress. Her message was that investment must lead to real jobs and viable enterprises, with partners working together and measuring results.

Business and government at the same table

The NBI and the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention co-hosted the summit, which brought together representatives from government and business. Participants included African Development Bank Chief Regional Power Systems Officer Anders Pedersen, DHET Director-General Dr Nkosinathi Sishi, and Sasol Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs Grace Nndwammbi, alongside other private-sector leaders.

The programme's next test will be putting its tools, studies and skills zones to work in communities. Its stated ambition is to ensure that South Africa's energy transition creates routes into employment and business, as well as new power infrastructure.