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The essay provides an overview of the South African Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) and the technical and political processes involved to secure the first country platform deal of its kind in the world. The JETP was premised on delivering gigatons of carbon offsets by phasing out coal for a sizeable and attractive climate finance deal. The South African JETP model is being replicated elsewhere in the world and is transforming the landscape of how nationally determined contributions can be used as tools for energy transitions and economic transformation. The essay seeks to demonstrate where international partnerships can be useful in this living experiment in transformative transition in a developing country, and suggests where they are not. The essay provides insights into how the South African JETP process built local ownership and catalysed innovative institutional mechanisms to deliver a substantive climate ambition under the rubric of a just energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries must develop their capacity to credibly revise their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) proportionate to the global climate goal. This paper argues that long-lasting capacity is necessarily embedded in the institutions governing cooperation between state and non-state actors. This institutional capacity for cooperation is determined by the two interactive processes of conception and calibration, where the state plays a definitive role in mediating between competing interests. In conception, the state uses its discretionary power to set the long-term vision, whereas during calibration it exercises flexibility to accommodate concerns and capacity of other actors. We conclude that proportionality of policy response is better understood, and achieved, through the convergence of both these processes. Drawing on climate policy experiences of India and South Africa, we recommend that successful implementation and enhancement of NDCs would require a greater emphasis on capacity building for calibration in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]