Muhammad Essop is the Acting Director – IEA Strategic Support, Coordination and Reporting at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in Pretoria. Muhammad has a passion around environmental management and environmental Law, and has 13 years of experience around Environmental Impact Assessment and for the past 10 years, he has been dealing with Strategic Infrastructure Projects, specifically in the renewable energy sector.
His main focus is to co-ordinate, review and decide on applications for Environmental Authorisations related to the Renewable Energy Sector applications. He has played a huge role in the way the Department processes applications for environmental authorisation around the renewable energy sector. He engages with the industry players such as SAWEA and SAPVIA, as well as the various NGO’s, and provides technical and legal input into the way the Department reviews these applications. He also co-ordinates and maintains working relationships between external stakeholders and the Department related to renewable energy.