This ambitious South African legislation was introduced in 2022 by Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy. Following extensive public consultation and passed by the National Assembly in October 2023, the adopted version of the Bill is now under consideration by the National Council of Provinces, one step towards being signed into law by President Ramaphosa.
The Climate Change Bill is said to be a crucial first step to ensuring the country has a legal instrument to build the capacity to respond to the impact of climate change and long-term just transition to reduce emissions in a way that is appropriate to national circumstances.
Despite being a signatory to the Paris Agreement, South Africa has yet to implement appropriate regulatory mechanisms to tackle the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement is a global legally binding document, which aims to limit global warming to below 2 °C and push to limit it to 1,5 °C, also considering the prospects for achieving the short- and long-term climate goals. This was established from a scientific report to strengthen countries’ ability to navigate climate change strategies, with a five-year favourable timeframe over the ten-year target and other targets.
South Africa has grappled with climate change catastrophes in the past few years and the signing into law of this local Bill would realise the country’s plan to deal more effectively with climate challenges. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to hold the planet’s long-term average temperature below the 1,5-degree threshold, the world will have to reach net zero emissions by the year 2050. In terms of the emissions released for electricity production, for example by the burning of coal or oil, and natural gas, this simply means that each country will have to commit to accelerated climate action and remove as much emissions as it puts into the atmosphere to reduce the current climate risks.
Rising from these global efforts and the local regulatory milestone will be the deliberate interdisciplinary collaboration within government departments and beyond for innovative climate solutions as the Paris Agreement emission reduction pledges are each linked to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The NDC is a roadmap to climate action and, amongst other focus areas, aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels, transition to a green economy and build a resilient society. The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) aimed to advise President Ramaphosa on the mitigation of the impact of climate change and emissions reduction under the Bill − it will be a formal statutory body set to mobilise all sectors to present a societal response to climate change and prevent the potentially irreversible effects of climate change.
The Bill sets out many goals, including obligations for municipalities and provincial government to take ownership of its climate change governance, assess climate change, and create response implementation strategies to cover both adaptation and mitigation measures, though there is an evident lack of a robust financing vehicle and implementation support. Notably, other critical provisions like private institutions’ carbon budgets and sectoral emissions targets have no deadlines to ensure commitment and compliance in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, to achieve the country’s ambitious decarbonisation goals detailed in the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) for 2023–2030, climate adaptation needs to become central in all tiers of government and strategic planning
Plans to monitor and hold organisations responsible for environmental and climate protection through penalties – that is, the carbon tax rate − are increased with a longer transition period that might not highly influence the behaviour of large emitters, posing interconnected challenges in the long term. However, the addition of specific offences, such as providing falsified data in terms of the Climate Change Bill’s reporting requirements or the failure to submit information or samples, carries a fine or imprisonment upon conviction. Failure to prepare and submit a greenhouse gas mitigation plan also carries a penalty, even though the Bill has not defined the deadline for South Africa to achieve net zero, regardless of the huge sectoral-wide investments on net zero pathways. For the Bill to be fully applicable in addressing climate change effects, it needs to reflect the urgency and impact of the situation (https://www.parliament.gov.za/bill/2300773).
