SA IS committed to, and is currently going through, the necessary country consultation processes to ratify the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, which the country signed at the UN high level signing ceremony convened by the UN secretary general, in April 2016.
The agreement will come into force 30 days after the date on which at least 55 countries (representing at least 55% of global emissions) have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the UN.
SA will follow a principle of participatory democracy as enshrined in our Constitution. This means that all our interested and affected parties should be consulted at national level. We will also finalise a socioeconomic impact assessment, which is currently in process. Cabinet approval will be sought, followed by the Parliamentary final stage, which is the process of ratification, prior to it being deposited at the UN.
When we have concluded this legal process we will join the growing number of countries including the US and China that have ratified the Agreement. This will strengthen our commitment to do our part for the global effort to combat climate change. It must be borne in mind that once ratified, this agreement will be implemented in 2020.
Until this legal process is concluded, SA will continue to advance our progressive and far-reaching formulation and implementation of policies and programmes, as well as the pre-2020 actions that already exist to deal with one of the most pressing issues of our time.
Through our National Climate Change Response Policy, we are driving the transition towards a lower carbon, climate-resilient, inclusive economy.
In addition, through our National Adaptation and Green Economy Strategy, to name but a few, we are implementing interventions in the sectors of energy, transport, water, agriculture, land and municipal services that build and sustain resilience to climate change and its effects, and in the same vein, make a fair contribution to the global effort to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations.
It is unfortunate that with all the work being done in this regard, a coalition of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) have laid a complaint with the public protector, charging that SA is failing to meet its climate change obligations. This course of action may have been taken in the absence of full knowledge and understanding of the efforts that SA is undertaking.
It is also unfortunate that the complainants have chosen the route of a "pre-emptive strike" and of attempting to "sanction" the government through the media, instead of engaging with us through widely accessible stakeholder channels. Our climate change policies and programmes were developed following extensive stakeholder consultation. So was our Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, which was submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat in good time.
The basis for the complaint entails, inter alia, that the Desired Emission Reduction Objectives for 2030 and 2050 have not been set; that the lack of integrated energy planning is behind this delay; that South Africa is dragging its feet in setting targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions; and that there is ‘no certainty on future carbon emission limits’ which affects investor confidence.
Firstly, the development of the first phase of Desired Emission Reduction Outcomes for key sectors is well under way. The approach for setting sectoral targets is currently being discussed with stakeholders as part of the broader consultation process on the approach and methodology for phase 2, and subsequent phases of the mitigation cycle in the post-2020 period.
The desired outcomes, however, are only one element of a broader mitigation system that includes, among others, the assessment of mitigation potential (on an iterative five-year cycle), setting carbon budgets for companies; requiring pollution prevention plans by companies with carbon budgets and annual greenhouse gas reporting. This, is in addition to a variety of other measures to be applied to support and/or complement the carbon budget system, including a carbon tax.
This broader mitigation system, which is aimed at achieving the national emission reduction goal and contributing towards SA’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, has been introduced in phases. The framework for this system was approved by the Cabinet in 2015.
Phase one (2016-2020) is aimed at ensuring that the necessary carbon budgeting, mitigation planning and greenhouse gas reporting systems are in place, and sends a strong signal to greenhouse gas emitting companies to start decoupling increasing productivity from increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
In other words, companies need to start reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, and start investing in low carbon technology where necessary.
The second and subsequent phases (post-2020 period) will become mandatory when climate change response legislation is in place.
That the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is the reason that the sectoral greenhouse gas desired emission reduction outcomes have not been set, is also untrue. The Department of Environmental Affairs has engaged with the Department of Energy in its integrated energy planning process, setting an emissions constraint that is informed by the national greenhouse gas inventory.
The complaint to the public protector fails to take into account certain realities and the timing of implementing climate change policies in a developing country such as ours, and instead appears to want to compare SA to developed countries.
As I have repeatedly emphasised throughout the international climate change negotiations, SA has a policy framework that prioritises climate change responses that have significant mitigation and adaptation benefits, and that also have significant economic growth, job creation, public health, risk management and poverty alleviation benefits.
We are a country where our major economic development priorities are directed at addressing the challenges of poverty, unemployment, inequality and sustainability — both socioeconomic and environmental.
Our response considers both climate change imperatives and developmental needs, as we have always argued that we need our development space while at the same time contributing towards global emission reduction. If we are to meet our emission reductions commitments, advance the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and attain the Sustainable Development Goals, civil society, the government, business and other stakeholders must work together.
Instead of resorting to unnecessary litigation, let us build on the successful collaboration we continue to have, and further align our actions and accelerate our joint efforts.
• Molewa is Environmental Affairs Minister
