The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is looking to identify potential projects that could contribute to ‘green growth' in South Africa, and has invited industry to submit expressions of interest.

This is in response to the Green Economy Summit, which was held in May, where government, business, civil society and nongovernmental organisations committed to ensuring that South Africa moved towards a resource efficient, low carbon and proemployment growth path.

The DEA is coordinating the development of a green-economy strategy and said that it needed to identify potential projects to draw up a practical action plan to support the strategy.

"The projects must demonstrate elements of resources efficiency and/or environmental protection, employment creation potential and the potential to contribute towards economic growth," it stated.

The DEA explained that the expression of interest would be carefully assessed to determine the potential and readiness to implement a project in the short term, or so-called ‘low hanging fruit', with large job creation and/or job protection potential or the creation of sustainable livelihoods.

In the medium- to-long-term, the department would be looking at strategic industry and infrastructure development with large emissions reduction potential, environmental protection and resources enhancement, as well as local manufacture and national competitiveness potential.

The department said that it would use the information provided by the expression of interest to compile bid documentation for future procurement processes, and added that all information would provide input into the green-economy strategy.