President Cyril Ramaphosa. Photo: Dwayne Senior/Getty Images
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of the Climate Change Bill into law on Tuesday marks the dawn of a new era in coordinated climate action for South Africa, the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) has said.
The Act sets out the legal mandate for a nationwide climate change response to align policy and actions, including mitigation and adaptation, “which also constitutes our country’s fair contribution to the global climate change response”, the commission said.
“While a few state departments and other government agencies have just transition outcomes explicitly outlined in their annual performance plans, the Act now clearly instructs every organ of state to review and if necessary, revise, amend, coordinate and harmonise their policies and measures, programmes and decisions to ensure that the risks of climate change impacts and associated vulnerabilities are taken into consideration,” it said.
The new law is the country’s first comprehensive piece of legislation to encourage the development of an effective climate change response.
The Act incorporates the country’s Paris Agreement targets or nationally determined contributions into domestic law.
“Undoubtedly any successful climate action effort will require alignment of major social-economic, environmental and governance policies,” said Crispian Olver, the executive director of the PCC.
“We are entering a new phase of climate action and we believe the Climate Change Act will foster institutional coherence and enhance climate change adaptation governance across the national, provincial and local layers of government.”
The legislation not only clearly sets out the functions of the PCC, but outlines the role that provinces and municipalities will play in mitigation efforts “to ensure the realisation of the vision for effective climate change response and just transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy and society”, he said.
The presidency said the Act enables the alignment of policies that influence the country’s response to climate change “to ensure that South Africa’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society is not constrained by policy contradictions”.
The law aims to enhance the country’s ability and capacity to over time reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience, while reducing the risk of job losses and promoting opportunities for new jobs in the green economy.
James Reeler, the senior manager for climate action at World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa, welcomed the passing of the Act after nearly 10 years of discussions and seven years after the first draft Bill was published.
“Over this same period South Africa has emitted over four billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, and the evidence of climate change impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods has become increasingly apparent. The importance of this framework law in guiding our response to this crisis cannot be overstated,” he said.
“The hard work still has to be done but the Climate Change Act provides a key legal framework for the country — and all its citizens — to steer away from the damaging and inequitable future that was otherwise locked in, and realise a vision for sustainable development.”
The Centre for Environmental Rights welcomes the “express formalisation” of a comprehensive climate change response in the country’s domestic law, said Brandon Abdinor, a climate advocacy lawyer at the organisation.
“In addition to the legislated management of climate change adaptation and mitigation, the Climate Change Act imposes duties across organs of state affected by climate change to harmonise their laws, policies, programmes and decisions with the principles and objectives of the Act.”
He said climate change mitigation, or the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, now has a legal basis with the upcoming allocation of carbon budgets to significant emitters.
“While the Act could have been stronger in making excess greenhouse gas emissions an offence, at least there are now tools in place to assist the monitoring of emissions and mitigation plans, which will effectively start to compel heavy emitters to engage with decarbonising their businesses,” Abdinor said.
Abdinor said policymakers and state decision-makers were now obliged to work with climate adaptation needs based on the best available science, which would accelerate the protection of vulnerable and at-risk people.
The presidency said the Act sets out the functions of the PCC, which includes providing advice on the country’s climate change response to ensure the vision is realised for effective climate change response and the long-term just transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy and society.
The PCC said it would strengthen its relations with the government, particularly the department of forestry, fisheries, and the environment and the treasury “in giving life to the Act” and to ensure a smooth evolution to a public entity.
Abdinor added that the formalisation of the PCC as a statutory body would help give this forum the legal status that it needed. “In addition to commissioning and producing science-based research reports, the forum hosts the challenging negotiations between social partners — that is business, labour, civil society and government — on how to implement a just transition that leaves no one behind and how to decarbonise our society and economy in a just and equitable manner.”