ABSTRACT. The study explored the unfolding reforms in the South African energy industry which is dominated by the fossil fuels, making the country a heavy carbon economy. The country derived over 80% of electricity from coal and 40% of liquid fuels from coal and gas. This heavy carbon consumption has made South Africa the 12th worst carbon emitting nation globally. Net zero carbon emissions involved a mammoth task that required all human generated greenhouse gas be removed from the atmosphere through reduction measures to render the Earth’s net climate balance. This is a global mitigation strategy for climate change or global warming which required a concerted effort from all nations. This study explored the South Africa’s stepped-up development of renewable sources of energy, empowerment of independent power producers (IPPs) and planned decommissioning of aged coal-fired power stations. These developments are geared to lower carbon emissions, and projected to drive the country towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050, as proposed in the Paris Agreement in 2015. The participants in the study were senior managers from both public and private energy companies. The theory of sustainable development underpinned the study and qualitative research methodology and constructivism research paradigm were pursued. Non-probability sampling process was used and the data collected was transcribed, interpreted, coded and content analysis used to determine the results. The outcome of the study indicated that increased development of renewable sources of energy, use of clean coal technologies and transforming the aged coal-fired power stations into gas-fired, reduced carbon emissions, as required in the drive towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050.