South Africa policy could set the example at COP17

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa in action

SA could impress the world with its revolutionary carbon budget

South Africa hopes to impress the world with its new national climate response policy which and is set to be unveiled at the upcoming COP17 conference in Durban.

The paper will ask businesses to make a number of sacrifices to get South Africa on to its low-carbon trajectory, including plotting a carbon budget that will prescribe for the country's different business sectors just how much carbon they have to "spend".

Two years ago at the COP15 climate talks in Copenhagen, President Jacob Zuma said that South Africa would reduce its emissions by 34% by 2020 and 42% by 2025, if backed by international funding.

This bold announcement has now been backed by a white paper that could place the country on a sustainable footing.

The paper states that, after 2025, emissions will level out for 10 years, before declining in absolute terms by 2036.

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said this week the paper struck a balance between the country's socioeconomic conditions and the need to prepare for climate change and its effects. Work on the white paper started six years ago after years of consultation with big business, government departments and civil society.

The paper, endorsed by the Cabinet last week, sets South Africa apart from other developing nations, including China and India, which have not made a similar commitment.

Molewa said she believed the paper would give South Africa a measure of leverage at the COP17 climate talks at the end of November.

"We are demonstrating as a country that we are serious," she said. "As high emitters, we are taking action. If we say to the world 'we need to move', people won't say: 'What about you? Why are you not moving?'"

Peter Lukey, acting deputy director general of the water and environmental affairs department, said that the relevant government departments had contributed to sections of the white paper that concerned them.

"Treasury, for example, was responsible for writing the section on carbon tax," he said.

One of the most contentious issues in the paper will be the carbon budget, which will be published in two years after consultations with different sectors. Businesses will have to present plans to the government on how they envisage they will reduce their emissions, and the budget will then seek to impose the necessary caps.

"Because we are carbon-intensive doesn't mean we can continue to be so. Our people are under threat because of our carbon profile,"

"It is impossible to say what the impact of job losses will be," Lukey told a press briefing in Pretoria this week. "New opportunities will come into play in new sectors such as renewable energy. These green industries are far more labour-intensive."

The white paper also raised concerns that promises of international funding for the adaptation to climate change might still be too vague.

Negotiations over how the wealthier countries would assist vulnerable countries are likely to be contentious at the climate talks. Pledges have been made but funding has been limited.

Valere Tjolle
Valere is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2011 Special Offers HERE