The following speech was delivered by Minister Barbara Creecy during a Parliament debate on climate change, at the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, Cape Town, Western Cape Province on 11 March 2020: Allow me at the outset, to once again welcome the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to establishing the Presidential Climate Change Commission to lead our just … [Read more...]
South Africa’s carbon tax to ensure zero waste to landfill
South Africa's recently introduced carbon tax will ensure zero waste to landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well boost investments for low carbon alternatives, said Bertie Lourens, CEO of Wasteplan — a Cape Town based on-site waste management company. Lourens was speaking at the 2019 SAPICS, The Professional Body for Supply Chain Management, conference held recently … [Read more...]
5 ‘green’ taxes that are hitting South Africans in the pocket
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has released a graph showing all of the additional environmental taxes that South Africans are currently paying. The organisation said that these taxes have contributed a total of R103. 61 billion, but have not been clearly linked to real changes in behaviour. “It would be disastrous if an issue as critical as climate change was … [Read more...]
Carbon tax delayed, acid mine water levies planned
South Africa’s government delayed the implementation of a planned carbon tax to 2016, while saying it may impose new levies on mining companies to help fund the treatment of acid water seeping from disused gold mines. The National Treasury two years ago said it planned to charge 120 rand ($11) on every metric ton of carbon emitted above a 60 percent threshold from 2014 and … [Read more...]
SA needs carbon tax, or else
“Good ecology is good economics,” Dr Andrew Siddle said during the opening of the SA Conference on Carbon Emissions & Tax held recently at the GIBS conference centre in Ilovo. “The overall temperature in SA is likely to increase by 4 degrees by 2100, even if all carbon pledges and targets are met,” Dr Siddle went on. Furthermore, said Dr Siddle, “The consequences of … [Read more...]
China’s coal consumption rivals that of the world
As the data illustrates, China is now burning almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined. And despite impressive support from Beijing for renewable energy and a dawning understanding about the dangers of air pollution, coal use in China is poised to continue rising, if slower than it has in recent years. That’s deadly for the Chinese people — see the truly … [Read more...]
China announces carbon tax
China has announced it will establish a carbon tax by adding CO2 to the scope of existing environmental levies. A statement published on the Ministry of Finance’s website detailed a series of tax reforms in the country. These included the proposals to bolster existing efforts “to continue to improve and implement tax policy to support energy conservation, environmental … [Read more...]
COP17: Financing Climate Justice
The largest ever financial vehicle for the distribution of climate justice is soon to be on the negotiating table at COP 17. International delegates at COP 17 are gearing up to discuss the Green Climate Fund, which requests of developed countries to provide developing countries with “scaled up, predictable, new and additional, and adequate funding” to deal with climate change. … [Read more...]
COP 17: Ignorance and Veiled Interests
On the 17th of November, Grahamstown, a small town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, held a roundtable on COP 17, bringing together stakeholders from across the community. They discussed climate change and the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17), which was to occur in just under two weeks’ time … [Read more...]
Business quiet on SA’s carbon future
Energy continues to be big news. In South Africa, there's a focus on our future energy mix: that is, to say how much energy we should be generating from fossil fuels, nuclear or renewable energy resources. It's a critical issue, not just from an environmental perspective but also from an economic viewpoint. Surprisingly, we've heard little from business on the issue and … [Read more...]
