Given its potential for addressing climate change impacts and the unemployment crisis, it is surprising that none of the manifestos outlines a clear, coherent plan for the potential of a just transition to create decent work and livelihoods.

In a few weeks South Africans will make their way to the voting stations in what is expected to be a tense election. In addition to familiar national challenges such as the stubbornly high unemployment rate, this election is also set against the backdrop of significant shifts in global politics. Politics and social divisions are increasing polarised, locally and internationally

One such issue is climate change, which is uniquely polarising on at least three fronts.

First, on an international scale, the responsibility for historical greenhouse gas emissions lies primarily with industrialised countries, while the material effects of climate change will likely be disproportionately felt by countries in the Global South. On the one hand, South Africa is one of the highest emitters of carbon in Africa and in the top 20 emitters in the world, however, according to IPCC's SR1.5, southern Africa is one of top 10 climate hotspots in the world. Subsequently, research indicates that over the past decades, warming in southern Africa has occurred at twice the average global rate.

Second, while there may be a global push to address climate change by phasing out fossil fuels, on a local scale, many global south countries, like...