South Africa and the Political Economy of Fossil Fuels: Rationales for LFFU

South Africa has relied on extremely high levels of coal and other fossil fuels, but the early 2020s was a period of flux in South Africa. Dominant patterns of fossil dependency began to change and the politics of ideas shifted not only to renewable energy, but also to an explicit commitment made by the government to LFFU. This chapter first looks into South Africa’s national context vis-à-vis climate policy and the related key actors. Next it discusses the key arguments and approaches for leaving fossil fuels underground (LFFU) that would also rectify the injustices of apartheid capitalism and address climate costs. Against a broader context of high-level corruption and collusion, the deep-rooted minerals–energy complex and the related lack of climate action, LFFU approaches that are being deliberated in South Africa include stranded assets, vulnerabilities to international trade, extractivism accounting, climate debt and the social cost of carbon (SCC). South Africa serves as a vital case of considering the politics of ideas that play an important role in changing dominant patterns.