The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has approved the Climate Change Bill.
Speaking about the significance of this action, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, said “the Climate Change Bill will provide the much-needed legal framework to regulate activities that contribute to climate change, ensure an effective response in all spheres of government and by the society at large, ensure a just transition, and maximize the opportunities afforded to our economy by the global shift to a green economy.”
Preparatory work for the Bill began back in 2011, when South Africa had to devise a response strategy to climate change in the National Climate Change Response White Paper.
In a statement, the Department said the Bill will allow for integration and mainstreaming of climate action across Government.
Creecy also said the Bill will enable the development of an effective climate change response and a long-term just transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society for South Africa in the context of sustainable development.
The Bill will ensure that climate actions are facilitated and coordinated across spheres of governance.
Provincial and Municipal Forums on Climate Change can now be realized, in an integrated fashion.
The Bill places the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) on a formal footing as an independent organ of state to provide advisory on matters of just transition.
The Department said the PCC will continue to be headed by the President, which sends a strong signal of South Africa’s commitment to addressing the complex challenges of responding to climate change and the urgency with which this needs to be achieved.
The Bill provides clarity on mitigation, adaptation and supportive resources in the country’s response.
On mitigation, the Bill provides for a just transition away from our current carbon-intensive energy system and towards a decarbonized economy and society, while meeting our critical development challenges.
To achieve this, the Bill formalizes our Greenhouse Gas Inventory, to strengthen the evidence base for further climate action, and our current reporting processes. The Bill also provides for the development of a long-term national greenhouse gas emissions trajectory and its review from time to time, and establishes a clear legal basis for allocating sectoral emissions targets to relevant sectors, and carbon budgets to large emitters.
On adaptation, the Bill provides for the establishment of national adaptation objectives, the development of climate scenarios to assess vulnerabilities, and a National Adaptation Strategy and Plan to manage adaptation in a clear and coordinated manner.
The Bill is approved at a time when organizations such as Greenpeace were raising alarm bells about the already visible effects of climate change in SA. Academic researchers from the University of Cape Town confirmed temperatures are rising, and will continue by at least 4% by 2050.