Ramaphosa finds pen and signs Climate Change Bill into law

President Cyril Ramaphosa has found his pen and finally signed the Climate Change Bill into law.

The Bill which sets out a national response, including mitigation and adaptation actions, constitutes South Africa’s fair contribution to the global climate change response.

It will be welcomed after the country has for years lacked a regulatory mechanism requiring government departments to work cooperatively to address climate change – despite being a signatory to the Paris Agreement.

South Africa is one of more than 190 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change who are parties to the eight-year-old Paris Agreement

SA Climate change response

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the Climate Change Act endorsed by Ramaphosa enables the alignment of policies that influence South Africa’s response to ensure the country’s  transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy and society is not constrained by policy contradictions.

 “The law also sets out to enhance South Africa’s ability and capacity over time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build climate resilience, while reducing the risk of job losses, and promoting opportunities for new job opportunities in the emerging green economy.

“The act has the aim of strengthening co-ordination between national sector departments and provide policy setting and decision-making to enable South Africa to meet the commitments in Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement,” Magwenya said.

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Climate change impact

South Africa’s mitigation measures are a response to impacts that are increasingly experienced across a number of sectors including water resources; agriculture and food production; human health; energy generation, migration; disaster management and biodiversity among others.

These impacts will disproportionately affect poor communities and vulnerable groups and could affect South Africa’s ability to meet its development and economic growth goals, including job creation and poverty reduction.

Economic consequences

Speaking at the National Treasury’s first Climate Resilience Symposium last week, Ramaphosa said climate change had economic consequences and that the country needed local and international financing to manage its just transition.

“Climate change is as much an economic issue as it is a scientific, social justice, human rights and development issue. It has a direct and material impact on activity across the economy, increasing the cost of doing business, undermining competitiveness and dampening employment growth.”

The symposium from 15 to 17 July hosted by the National Treasury, the Presidential Climate Commission, the World Bank and other partner organisations aimed to integrate climate goals into macro-fiscal and finance policy and mainstream climate change considerations into the intergovernmental fiscal system.

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