Civil Society groups have written an open letter to president Cyril Ramaphosa, expressing concern about the newly signed Climate Change Act, that has not been put into operation.
The groups are Life After Coal Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, the African Climate Alliance, Project 90 by 2030, the Association For Rural Advancement (AFRA) Institute of Natural Resources Natural Justice and GroundWork.
This coincides with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), hosting the 18th Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla on virtual platform from 02-04 September 2024.
This year is the 20th, since the promulgation of the National Environment Management, Air Quality Act, 2004.
This year’s event is themed “implementation for accelerated emission reduction”.
In a press statement, the Department’s Peter Mbelengwa, said the 2024 Lekgotla aims to take forward the development and implementation of emission reduction plans.
“This includes engaging in tools and interventions required to support the implementation of the emission reduction objectives, namely a focused compliance and enforcement effort, a functional atmospheric emission licencing regime as well a functional ambient air quality monitoring network that is able to provide meaningful management decision, policy research and regulation implementation information.”
The Lekgotla, ending on Wednesday this week, was attended by government officials, industry representatives and civil society.
EEAG released data of the world’s biggest carbon emissions polluters, back in 1976: The United States and Russia top the list with 4, 829, 9 million tonnes and 1,939,0 respectively.
China is third (1,299, 6)and Germany (1,068,7), followed by Japan (922,2).
Africa as a continent contributed 2,4% to carbon emissions, similar to South America.
Carbon emissions are at an estimated 37,55 billion metric tons in 2023.
But according to the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research data (2023), China, the United States, India, the EU27, Russia and Brazil were the six world largest GHG emitters in 2022.
These countries account for 50.1% of the global population, 61.2% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 63.4% of global fossil fuel consumption and 61.6% of global GHG emissions.
Among these top emitters, in 2022 China, the United States and India increased their emissions compared to 2021, with India having the largest increase in relative terms (5%).
On the contrary, the other three top emitters decreased their emissions in 2022, with Russia showing the largest decrease (-2.4%).
Cover Picture: SAIIA