ID: 2092
Presenting Author: Abulele Adams
Session: 550 - (Re)building trust and transparency to navigate complex energy transitions
Status: pending
South African EIA appeals reveal multifaceted, place-based opposition. Procedural and environmental concerns dominate; few succeed. Transparent participation can preempt issues. -em
South Africa’s accelerated renewable energy rollout has heightened questions about where, why, and by whom projects are opposed. This paper presents a national review of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) appeals as an empirical window into social acceptance of renewable energy (2011–2025). We compile a database of appeals submitted to the national competent authority and link these to the population of approved renewable energy EIAs since 2011 (n=1,403). Using a hybrid design of content analysis of appeal texts followed by reflexive thematic analysis, we identified six recurrent grounds of appeal: procedural compliance, environmental, visual, ecotourism and wind-sector wake effects.
Based on the initial coded appeals, procedural and environmental issues dominate the frequency counts, with multiple grounds commonly co-occurring within single appeals. Few grounds are upheld; where they are, they frequently concern procedural compliance and wake-effect impacts. Appeals thus function less as blanket opposition to renewables and more as place-based challenges to how projects are assessed, sited, and justified. Findings indicate that opposition is multi-layered rather than simple technology rejection and several appeals are avoidable at project design and planning stages. Early planning can we rebuild public trust in impact assessment in an era of misinformation and disinformation. The study contributes Global South evidence to social acceptance scholarship and provides practical signals for accelerating a just energy transition in South Africa.
Abulele is an environmental scientist CSIR and a PhD candidate at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Coauthor 1: Dr Megan Davies
Coauthor 2: Dr David Rudolph
Coauthor 3: Babalwa Mqokeli