Background

South Africa’s economic future depends in part on how well the country navigates the intersection of environmental policy and economic policy. Environmental and climate policy decisions — over the structure of the electricity market, the pricing of carbon, the response to trade-related climate measures, the financing of adaptation, and the governance of water and air quality — bear directly on growth, productivity, and the country’s long-run competitive position. Yet these decisions are made under significant institutional, fiscal, and political constraints, and the research evidence available to support good design is uneven across the policy landscape.

There is broad consensus among economists on the fundamentals of environmental policy: markets fail in the presence of externalities, pricing instruments are generally preferred to standards in addressing those failures, and the costs of environmental degradation tend to fall disproportionately on lower-income households and communities. Where disagreement and uncertainty remain is in the application of these fundamentals to specific policy designs in specific contexts. South African environmental and climate policy is currently being made in a context defined by the end of load-shedding and the unbundling of ESKOM, exposure to the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), fiscal and political pressure on the carbon pricing regime, growing tension between water security and water service delivery, and a broader political environment in which climate policy has become inseparable from industrial and trade policy.

Project Overview

Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) is launching a research initiative under its Environmental Policy Research Programme to build a body of empirical research on the design and implementation of environmental and climate policy in South Africa. The initiative is anchored in the Programme’s overarching focus on economic growth and productivity, and is intended to produce robust, evidence-based research that can guide South African policymakers as they navigate a period of significant policy change.

Researchers are encouraged to propose work that focuses on (i) the reform of South Africa’s energy system, (ii) trade, competitiveness, and the design of climate policy instruments, (iii) climate adaptation finance, environmental health, and water service delivery, and (iv) the firm-level impacts of environmental and climate policy and the productivity question.

For a full overview of the themes, click here.

Call for Proposals

ERSA invites proposals from South African and international researchers for working papers that provide in-depth analysis of research questions that fit within the four themes. Research covering other emerging markets are also welcome.

Proposals must articulate a specific, narrow, and empirically tractable research question, together with a defined methodological or analytical strategy and a clear plan for data and evidence. The objectives above are intended to indicate the territory in which research is sought; the formulation of the research question is the responsibility of the proposer and will be a significant basis on which proposals are evaluated.

While no restrictions are imposed on data and empirical methods used, studies that use novel data, including survey data, and provide credible insights on causal associations will be prioritised. That said, descriptive, qualitative, and case study research remain highly valued, particularly where they illuminate sector-specific dynamics, specific reform episodes, or the political economy of policy design.

For research questions on the political economy of decision-making, ERSA welcomes proposals using qualitative and mixed methodologies from the political science tradition — including process tracing, structured comparative case study, elite interviewing, content analysis, and network analysis — alongside proposals using formal or empirical methods from economics. Proposals using political-science methodologies will be evaluated against the standards of those traditions, including the strength of case selection logic, the systematicness of evidence collection, the transparency of inference, and the explicitness of scope conditions.

Compelling proposals that require primary data collection will also be considered, although the budget for this type of research is limited and such projects also need to be completed within 12 months.

To summarise, proposals should demonstrate:

• A specific, narrow, and empirically tractable research question
• A defined methodological or analytical strategy appropriate to the question
• Clear policy relevance
• Academic novelty
• Feasible use of available data sources

Alignment with one or more of the priority themes

Submission Guidelines

• Click here for proposal template and guidelines
• Proposal Submission Deadline: 31 July 2026
• Evaluation: Proposals will be reviewed by ERSA’s Research Committee, with external feedback as needed. To reduce the risk of impartiality, committee members will be prevented from commenting on proposals from their colleagues. For proposals using political-science methodologies, ERSA will draw on external reviewers from those traditions to ensure appropriate evaluation.
• Notification of Decisions: 31 August 2026

Expectations Placed on Accepted Proposals

• Present preliminary findings at a researchers’ workshop in January 2027.
• Present near-final findings at a conference in May 2027.
• Submit final papers to the ERSA Working Paper Series by July 2027.
• Submit policy brief or executive summary by October 2027.

Ownership and Dissemination

Researchers will retain ownership of their work. ERSA reserves the right to promote and disseminate the research findings to the broader academic and policy community. The Research Committee may request periodic progress reports.

Funding

Final papers will be published in the ERSA Working Paper Series, subject to the formal review process. Papers accepted for publication will receive R50,000. Researchers must also provide a policy brief, executive summary, or economic note summarising their findings. Additional funding of up to R50,000 is available for primary data collection or research assistance, subject to an assessment of value for money.