Sustainability seminar series launch

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Environmental Sustainability Unit, in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, will be hosting the first in a series of lunchtime sustainability seminars on 13 November.

Manfred Braune, the university’s director of Environmental Sustainability, said, “The seminar series will be an opportunity to share current local and global critical thinking on environmental sustainability issues, expose staff and students to leaders in the field, spark healthy debate, and help to inform UCT’s thinking on and responses to environmental sustainability on campus and in the broader South African and global context.”

One seminar will be hosted per quarter for the first year, and the series will grow from there.

The first of the lunchtime seminars, “Fixing Eskom and transitioning to a sustainable energy future”, will be presented by Professor Anton Eberhard, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at UCT where he directs the Power Futures Lab at the Graduate School of Business.

His research and teaching focuses on governance and regulatory incentives to improve utility performance, the political economy of power sector reform, power investment challenges, and linkages to electricity access and sustainable development.

Professor Eberhard was appointed by the president of South Africa to chair a task team to resolve serious financial and technical challenges in the national utility, Eskom, and to make proposals on the restructuring of the power sector.

According to Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, “Environmental sustainability is a core element of UCT’s Vision 2030, and so this seminar series is an opportunity to spark engaging discussions and transformational thinking in our university community. I hope that all faculties and departments, academic, professional and support staff, and students will join in and attend these seminars.”

The first seminar will take place from 13:00 to 14:00 on 13 November in Room 12 in the Menzies Building. The event is free of charge and all staff and students are invited to attend.