Climate change
Recently floods affected a number of provinces, including KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. These have already caused enormous damage to infrastructure and livelihoods. In the last year, government made important strides in the fight against climate change, and, at the same time, securing economic competitiveness. For the first time, South Africa’s climate targets are compatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C. This is the goal that all countries agreed to as part of the Paris Climate Agreement, and is essential to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Since the establishment of the Presidential Climate Commission a little more than a year ago, it has done much work to support a just transition to a sustainable, inclusive, resilient and low-carbon economy.
At the international climate conference in Glasgow last November, South Africa struck a historic R131 billion deal with the European Union, France, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. This first-of-its-kind partnership will involve repurposing and repowering some of the coal plants that are reaching the end of their lives, and creating new livelihoods for workers and communities most impacted by this change.
To ensure that South Africa is able to derive the full benefit of this and other partnerships, Mr Daniel Mminele, a former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, was appointed as Head of the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team to lead the mobilisation of funds for a just transition. Properly managed, the energy transition will benefit all.
Related links
- Speeches and statements - Presidential Climate Commission
- Speeches and statements - Climate change
- SAnews.gov.za - Climate change
- Vuk'uzenzenzele - Climate change
- Climate Change Bill B9-2022
- Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
Source: State of the Nation Address Highlights [PDF]
