EMISSIONS REDUCTION
SA’s plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050 Like the rest of the world, South Africa is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In unmitigated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios, drier conditions will be experienced, and rainfall patterns will become more unpredictable.
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outh Africa’s climate changes will impact water resources and food production as well as increase the vulnerability of impoverished communities. Government has thus passed three bills as par t of a plan to combat climate change.
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South Africa's new climate policy consists of the following three pillars: the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS), and an improved waste management strategy.
Establishment of the PCCCC and NDCs The climate change plan adopted by the South African government aims to meet the countr y’s international commitments and find adaptation solutions. As part of this new policy, several bills have been approved by the Council of Ministers, including the bill to establish the future Presidential Climate Change Coordination Commission (PCCCC). The council will consist of 24 members and has a budget of R50 million. The mission of the PCCCC will be to advise and guide South Africa’s response to climate change and to ensure that the policy objectives of building sustainable social, economic and environmental resilience and emergency response capacity are met. According to government, the future commission will also explore oppor tunities
for new jobs and green industries that should be exploited, as well as climate resilience inter ventions that need to be scaled up in areas at risk. The overall objective is to advise and guide South Africa’s climate change response to ensure the realisation of the policy objectives of building sustainable social, economic and environmental resilience and emergency response capacity, and a fair contribution to the global ef for t to stabilise GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that avoids dangerous anthropogenic inter ference with the climate system, within a timeframe that enables economic, social and environmental development to proceed in a sustainable manner. Measures currently being implemented by government to address GHG emissions mitigation stretch across the four key sectors of the economy, namely: • energy (supply and demand) • industr y • agriculture, forestr y and other land use • waste.
