Parliament passes 'landmark' Climate Change Bill

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Author: Denene Erasmus
• Publication title: Business Day: Web Edition Articles (Johannesburg, South Africa)

The Climate Change Bill was passed on Thursday and will now go to president Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law

The bill aims to "enable the development of an effective climate change response and a longterm, just transition to a lowcarbon and climateresilient economy and society".

When it was passed by the National Assembly in October, minister of forestry, fisheries & the environment Barbara Creecy said it was a historic moment. The bill, she said, "would ensure our country has a legal instrument to build resilience against the impacts of climate change and to reduce emissions in a manner aligned with our national circumstances and development pathways".

At the time, The African Climate Foundation said it was a "landmark" bill which "empowers the government to enforce more ambitious measures" to hold emitters of greenhouse gasses (GHG) to account.

The bill will enable the environment minister to set emissions targets for various sectors, such as energy and transport, as well as prescribe emission thresholds or carbon budgets at a company level.

But, the foundation said, to ensure successful implementation of the bill, government would still have to determine "meaningful penalties" for companies that exceed their carbon budgets, with a potential higher carbon tax rate as a penalty. This would require specific amendments to the Carbon Tax Act.

Shareholder activism organisation Just Share raised similar concerns in comments they submitted on the bill.

Even though Just Share "supported the urgent adoption" of the bill it said amending the Carbon Tax Act to introduce additional taxes for companies that exceed their carbon budget does not go far enough.

"Unless there are significant penalties attached to violation of a carbon budget and/or...