Saliem Fakir - Low Carbon Future
COP 17 – waiting for light at end of tunnel
By: Saliem Fakir 2nd December 2011 Some predictions are easy and others require a savant’s wisdom to penetrate the unseen world. One can be sure the outcome of the United Nations... →
Learning from the Chinese approach to carbon taxation
By: Saliem Fakir 25th November 2011 The Australian government recently just managed to squeeze through carbon tax legislation. The Australian system starts off with a fixed price,... →
Thinking of value-add in a way that guarantees future of sustainability
By: Saliem Fakir 7th October 2011 The world was once run on three big economic engines: Europe, North America and Japan. These engines of growth are slowing down but three or four... →
Perennial doubters and future of renewables
By: Saliem Fakir 2nd September 2011 It is somewhat tired argument to suggest that renewables will make no progress as a technology and that they will never compete with coal or nuclear. →
There are still many unknowns about shale gas extraction in the Karoo
By: Saliem Fakir 5th August 2011 I recently attended what is probably the most insightful conference I have ever attended – not because it was attended mostly by industry players... →
SA needs an independent system operator 
By: Saliem Fakir 8th July 2011 Previously, I noted some reservations about the idea of an independent system and market operator (ISMO). →
Do green jobs threaten other jobs?
By: Saliem Fakir 10th June 2011 You have probably heard this before: green industries will steal jobs from other sectors. Superficial logic invites superficial conclusions. But... →
Japan’s nuclear crisis shows up the ‘unknown unknowns’
By: Saliem Fakir 13th May 2011 After the Japanese nuclear accident following the tsunami there has been a lot of chatter by defenders of nuclear power that nuclear is still here... →
Fracking in the Karoo – who do we believe?
By: Saliem Fakir 15th April 2011 While Shell is attracting the most negative publicity owing to its application to the Petroleum Agency of South Africa for exploration rights in... →
Why a carbon tax will be useful in supporting a transition to a low-carbon future
By: Saliem Fakir 1st April 2011 The National Treasury’s deadline for comments on the draft discussion document on carbon taxes was February 28. Business and industry have set up a... →
