The imperative to adapt to climate change offers governments a historic opportunity to leapfrog development and financing deficits to upgrade marginalised communities using alternative approaches.

For Dineo, a resident of an informal settlement on the periphery of Johannesburg, the loss of her job last month was not a matter of poor performance, but of infrastructure failure. Expected at her post by 7.30am, she found herself trapped by the geography of fear.

To leave home at 5am in the absolute darkness of a community without streetlights or reliable power is to risk sexual violence. For Dineo, and millions like her, load shedding never truly ended; it simply became a permanent state of exclusion.

Poor and marginalised communities across South Africa also bear the brunt of other infrastructure failures, from water to housing shortages. Where the wealthy can insulate themselves with lithium batteries and private water tanks, the poor remain tethered to failing grids and dry taps.

This failure is not merely a social and governance shame; it is an early warning system for a continent on the front lines of a warming world; and it is likely to cost the South African economy dearly if left unacknowledged.

The adaptation deficit

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been unequivocal: Africa is the continent most vulnerable to climate volatility, despite contributing less than 3% of cumulative...