The risk of climate change has gained prominence globally and also in South Africa. Companies operating in developing countries such as South Africa are perceived to be particularly vulnerable to climate change. There have been mixed reactions to this risk by companies ranging from inaction to significant financial outlays expended on mitigating this risk. Whilst climate change is potentially a downside risk to financial performance, certain companies have identified opportunities to enhance their returns in the course of adapting to climate change. This study assessed whether there is a relationship between climate change and the financial performance, as manifested in the mitigation of risks and exploitation of opportunities of selected South African companies. The study sought to establish the extent to which climate change creates relevant and material risks, returns and opportunities for companies. The study was conducted using a combination of a literature review and empirical research in the form of secondary analysis. Data on climate-change performance, risks and opportunities was compared to data on financial indicators. The population of companies selected for the empirical research consisted of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed companies that had publicly disclosed information to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in 2012. Climate-change data was categorised to differentiate between varying levels of climate-change performance, and the identified categories were compared to a range of ratios that demonstrated financial return. The research concluded that climate-change risks and opportunities are expected to have a significant and highly likely impact on company operations, revenue and expenditure. Positive and statistically significant correlations were identified between climate-change performance and equity analyst recommendations, historical internal rates of return, market values to book values, forecasted earnings per share, beta coefficients, and return on equity. Climate-change performance was not found to have a significant effect on the cost of capital. / Management Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

The impact of climate change on the financial performance of companies is of concern to bank credit processes. The main objective of this research was to develop a South African contextualised credit process that incorporates environmental risk. The research methodology comprised of a mixed-method being content analysis – the qualitative portion and the Probability of Default prediction using a Merton Model and the Hoffmann and Busch (2008) carbon risk analysis model - the quantitative portion. A content analysis of the banks’ Annual Reports, Integrated Reports and Sustainability Reports showed that, while South African banks follow a qualitative approach to embedding environmental risk into their credit process, none of the four banks that formed part of the study divulged their quantitative approach to embedding environmental risk. The study used a proximity matrix method to examine the level of embedding. The second part of the study, which used prior studies as the benchmark, adopted the following: (1) a simulated carbon tax regime as a proxy for an environmental risk, and (2) the Hoffmann and Busch (2008) carbon risk analysis tool and the Merton Model (1974) as the bank credit process proxies. The second part of the study used a sample of 33 JSE-listed Carbon Disclosure Project reporting companies out of a population of 107. The carbon risk analysis showed that the companies in the materials and energy sector have a high carbon risk. However, the results from the Merton Model showed that the companies have enough profit to cushion the additional carbon tax liability, given the insignificant shift in probability of default between the three scenarios, where financial data had (1) no carbon tax, (2) was adjusted for a carbon tax with incentives, and (3) adjusted for carbon tax without incentives. Triangulation of the results from the content analysis, carbon risk analysis and the probability of default analysis confirms that South African banks do not fully integrate environmental risk across the credit value chain or process in the 2010 to 2017 period. However, the carbon risk analysis shows a heavy dependency on carbon sources for critical inputs into the South African companies’ production processes, which if not checked, will affect the credit portfolios of banks. / Finance, Risk Management and Banking / D. Phil (Management Studies)

Energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy have become a vital part of everyday life and business. The increase in energy cost and the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions necessitates energy management and in particular energy risk management within organisations. Organisations need to manage the possible negative effect that the increased costs will have within the organisation. The present research investigated the introduction of a structured approach to energy risk management within the financial services sector of South Africa. The research followed a quantitative, non-experimental research design by using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to managers within the financial services sector. The research investigated the criteria for the implementation of a structured approach to energy risk management such as organisational requirements (culture, corporate social responsibility, management, and finance), governance, energy strategies (energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy), risk identification, risk management and lastly communication and review. The research found that the structured approach to energy risk management should include the context within the organisation namely organisational requirements, governance and energy strategies. Thereafter the risks within the energy strategies need to be identified, analysed and evaluated, and control measures need to be implemented. It is important to monitor the various energy strategies continuously in order to identify corrections and implement preventative actions. The strategies need to be reviewed and communicated in terms of the various strategies to all stakeholders within the organisation in order to set continual improvement plans. Risk management should form part of the energy management strategies of organisations. The research showed that energy risk management plays an important role in the overall business strategy and that the vast majority of financial services organisations have already implemented some form of energy management. There are however aspects that are still lacking within management strategies that need attention. / D. Phil. (Management Studies) / Business Management

Livelihood stressors in southern Africa, such as HIV/Aids and climate change, do not act in isolation but rather interact concurrently in complex socio-ecological systems with diverse, interrelated and compounded affects. Households experience differential vulnerability to such stressors based on contextual factors such as geographical location, income level and the gender and age of its members. Households’ differential experiences of vulnerability are further defined by the households’ use of their capital stocks: the human, social, natural, financial and physical capital available to the household to form livelihoods and resist the detrimental effects of a stressor. The capital stocks of 340 households were measured in two sites in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, using a household survey. These data were analysed to determine differences between the sites, households with heads of different gender and households of different income levels. Further data relating to the drivers and interactions of stressors over temporal and spatial scales, as well as the perceived value of various forms of capital by different social groups in the two sites, were collected via Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) methods including timelines, mental modelling and pair-wise ranking. Although the two sites have similar levels of income and fall within the same province, many significant differences emerged. The two sites showed different distributions of household head genders and different stressors and perceptions of vulnerability, perhaps owing to differences in their capital stocks, acting alongside the influence of culture and access on a shifting rural-urban continuum. These discrepancies further transpired to reflect crucial differential experiences along gender lines and income levels in each site. Vulnerability was often context specific, not only because of unique drivers of stress in different areas, but also because socio-economic groups and localities often had characteristics that could potentially exacerbate vulnerability, as well as characteristics that can potentially facilitate adaptive capacity. Stressors were found to have depleted multiple forms of capital over time, while new stressors were emerging, raising concerns over the most appropriate means of social protection within these contexts.

Climate change and the HIV/AIDS epidemic are two of the most critical long-term global challenges, especially for Africa and even more so Southern Africa. There is great concern that the poor will be unable to adapt to the impacts of climate variability and change while HIV/AIDS will exacerbate the impacts of such stressors and deepen the insecurities of many communities already affected by this disease. Studies that consider the interlinked effects of climate change and HIV/AIDS along with other multiple stressors are increasingly needed. This study, located in two rural communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, namely Lesseyton and Willowvale, assessed the responses of vulnerable households to the linked shocks and stressors of climate change and HIV/AIDS. This involved assessing, through household surveys, life history interviews and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA), the way in which multiple stressors interacted and affected vulnerable households, the way in which these households responded to and coped with such shocks and stressors, and the barriers which prevented them from coping and adapting effectively. Unemployment emerged as the dominant stress amongst households. The lack of development and having too few opportunities for employment has limited vulnerable households from being able to invest in assets, such as education or farming equipment. This, in combination with the impacts of increased food and water insecurity from recent drought, has created an extremely vulnerable environment for these households. They rely largely on two important safety-nets, namely social capital and the use of natural and cultivated resources; however the latter has been limited due to the impacts of water scarcity and an inability to farm. It was evident that there was little planned long-term adaptation amongst households and from government. Maladaptive short-term coping strategies, such numerous household members depending on one social grant and transactional sex, were too often relied upon, and although they may have helped relieve the stress of shocks momentarily, they did not provide for the long-term well-being of individuals and households. Poor communication and capacity between the different levels of government and between the government (especially at the local level) and the two rural communities has created an environment full of uncertainty and lacking in advocacy. Local government needs increased human, informational, and financial capacity and a clear delegation of responsibilities amongst the different departments in order for the two communities to benefit from the implementation of support strategies. There is also a great need for educational programmes and capacity development within the two rural communities, particularly based on improved coping and longer-term adaptation strategies in response to climate change in order for households to better prepare themselves for the future.

<p>Les contestations normatives relatives à la nature des transferts financiers Nord-Sud visant l’adaptation au changement climatique et à ses relations avec l’aide publique au développement (APD) se sont considérablement accentuées depuis 2009 lorsque les pays développés se sont conjointement engagés à fournir des ressources «nouvelles et supplémentaires » à hauteur de 30 milliards de dollars pour la période 2010-2012 et à mobiliser collectivement 100 milliards de dollars par an d’ici à 2020, en les répartissant de manière « équilibrée » entre l’atténuation et l’adaptation dans les pays en développement. Mouvements de solidarité internationale, organisations non gouvernementales de protection de l’environnement, représentants des pays en développement, et parfois institutions multilatérales de développement :nombreux sont les acteurs qui appellent à la mise en place d’un financement international de l’adaptation qui existerait séparément de l’aide, en représentant une forme de « compensation » liée à la responsabilité disproportionnée des pays développés dans l’occurrence du changement climatique.<p><p>Notre thèse se construit à partir d’un constat :celui de la déconnexion entre une hypothèse largement répandue dans la littérature académique (i.e. l’existence d’un financement international de l’adaptation qui serait distinct de l’APD – et original sous divers aspects) et la réalité observable (i.e. l’existence d’un tel financement ne se vérifie pas dans les faits). Comment expliquer cette déconnexion ?Telle est précisément la question que nous tentons d’élucider dans le présent document. Nous formulons l’hypothèse selon laquelle les discours opposant le financement international de l’adaptation et l’aide au développement sont le produit d’une vision particulière de ce que devrait être l’APD. L’ambition de notre recherche est dès lors de caractériser cette vision normative de l’aide et d’examiner ses manifestations dans une série de débats récurrents qui traversent la question du financement international de l’adaptation. Nous mettons en évidence le fait que ces discours renouvellent une vision de l’aide entre États souverains destinée à répondre aux injustices internationales et à alimenter un transfert de ressources régulier entre pays riches et pays pauvres. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished