As we get ready to welcome 2025 and step one more year into the future, the importance of sustainability and understanding climate change is more relevant than ever before. The youth, who will be forced to live with the devastating impacts of climate change are also the ones with the greatest motivation to fix it. However, they seldom have access to the levers of investment, development and policymaking that can move the needle for sustainable innovation. They should, therefore, be empowered to not just come up with ideas, but to implement them.
TCS Sustainathon is an innovative challenge that encourages the youth to engage in real-world sustainability issues, and to leverage technology to solve them. It provides a platform to find solutions to sustainability challenges in their own community, while receiving mentorship and guidance from TCS experts, private enterprises, non-profit organisations, and government agencies. The third edition of TCS Sustainathon South Africa was recently launched, inspired by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, “Clean and Affordable Energy”. This theme is especially relevant in Africa, where around 600 million people, or 43% per cent of the continent’s population lacks access to electricity. Our competition emphasizes the need for realistic, practical solutions for real-world issues. The idea is to enable the convergence of ideas and technology for the good of society.
For Africa, the challenge is to overcome energy poverty and to give young people access to the fuel and electricity required to start businesses, power households and drive development. However, this must be done while transitioning to lower-carbon energy sources and preserving careers within the new energy economy. This need is especially urgent in South Africa, where per capita greenhouse-gas emissions are already above the global average, energy demand is growing, and we still derive around 80% of our electrical energy from coal.
Many experts have said that the key to the new energy dispensation is to find smaller, localised energy solutions. Another approach is to improve the efficiency of energy use within the household and the commercial sector. A third way to develop forms of energy generation that minimise carbon emissions. Whichever combination of approaches is taken, it will be the young people of the world, who build those sustainable solutions for our future. Fortunately, there are many gifted innovators, well positioned to improve the quality of life for future generations, while minimising our impact on the environment.
Last year’s TCS Sustainathon winners, Team Amanzi Impilo from the University of Cape Town, created a water solution that uses IoT technology to recycle greywater for non-potable uses. In 2022, Team Waste Warriors, from Louwville High School, came up with a solution to reduce food wastage in South African schools. TCS Sustainathon 2024 looks to harness this same spirit of youthful innovation to help solve the planet’s critical energy challenges, and to preserve a liveable, nurturing environment for future generations.
Main Image: Supplied
