S Africa to play leading role in combatting climate change
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E-mail Xinhua, July 6, 2012
South Africa will have to reduce its dependence on coal and play a leading role in combating the global challenges associated with climate change, a government minister said on Thursday.
"It is no secret" that South Africa's industries which depend heavily on coal energy lead to massive Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said at the launch of the Climate Change Policy Framework (CCPF) in Pretoria.
"As a result, we have adopted a proactive approach so as to ensure that South Africa is playing a leading role in combating the global challenges associated with climate change," Gigaba said.
Due to its heavy fossil fuel dependence, South Africa is ranked as one of the 30 largest emitters of greenhouse gases globally and amongst the highest per capita carbon emitters in Africa.
Government reports indicate that the bulk of GHG emissions in South Africa come from the energy sector, which contributed 78 percent of South Africa's total GHG in 1994, and more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.
The minister said Pretoria's policy objective is to make a fair contribution towards global efforts that seeks to stabilize greenhouse gas.
At the UN climate change conference held in Durban last year, South Africa committed itself to achieving a 34 percent deviation below the "business as usual" (BAU) emission trajectory by 2020, and 42 percent deviation by 2025.
Gigaba said that in pursuit of this goal and a green economy, the government has finalized a National Climate Change Response White Paper that serves as government's vision for an effective climate change response and the long-term transition to a climate resilient and low-carbon economy and society.
"The objectives of the paper is making a fair contribution to the global effort to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations and effectively managing unavoidable climate change impacts through interventions that build and sustain South Africa's social, economic and environmental resilience and emergency response capacity," said Gigaba.
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