South Africa would have to look at aligning its trade and climate change policies, if it wanted to drive ‘green’ infrastructure development and the so-called ‘green economy’, National Treasury deputy director-general for public finance Andrew Donaldson said on Thursday.

“Internationally, we have seen how climate adaptation and mitigation policies are aligned with trade policies, as well as with economic growth in terms of creating jobs and reducing poverty.

“The relationship between the two spheres of policy is a complicated one, but will have to be done,” Donaldson told Engineering News Online. 

World Bank VP for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili said Africa needed to strategically align policies, institutions and investment allocation to ensure greater growth through the diversification of economic sectors, while ultimately creating sustainable job opportunities and reducing poverty.

However, some disagree that such alignment should exist. Earlier this week, Poland’s Centre for International Relations CEO Janusz Reiter and Environmental Affairs chief negotiator Alf Wills agreed that a mixture of trade with climate change would lead to a “no-win situation”.

Meanwhile, Donaldson said South Africa’s saving rates were too low to seriously invest in the country’s infrastructure.

Speaking at the Development Bank of Southern Africa Knowledge Week on greening infrastructure programmes, he described the need to improve the country’s savings performance as “critical”.

Compared with its peers internationally, South Africa’s savings rate has not performed well. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said earlier this year that for too long South Africa’s savings rates have been significantly lower than its economic and structural characteristics permit.

A high savings rate would allow the country to meet its investment needs domestically, Gordhan said, supporting the government’s commitment to a developmental State without borrowing from other countries and their investors.