The climate change bill, which is making its way through parliament, has raised fears that it places much of the responsibility for implementation on lower spheres of government. Yet in its current form, it does not make sufficient provision for municipalities to receive the resources they would need for such implementation.
The parliamentary committee on forestry, fisheries & the environment is considering more than 13,000 public comments received on the bill before it is looked over again by the parliamentary legal team.
Many of the responses express concern that local government would be expected to make climate change mitigation and adaptation plans when many municipalities are bankrupt and cannot provide adequate and reliable water and power services.
Webber Wentzel lawyer Garyn Rapson said: “What is potentially worrying, however, is that the bill delegates a lot of responsibility to provincial and municipal levels of government, which may not have the resources, finances, staff or capacity to manage this responsibility effectively.”
Funding
Under pressure from the DA, forestry, fisheries & the environment minister Barbara Creecy has agreed to add a clause that allows funding to be given to municipalities to help them deal with climate change.
This was welcomed by DA.
“It has been the DA’s position that many of the goals of the climate change bill, including obligations for municipalities, will be rendered meaningless if there is not a clear path towards ensuring that the requisite finances are provided,” said the DA representative on the portfolio committee for forestry, fisheries and the environment Hannah Winkler.
“For any significant legislative measures, especially those as critical as the climate change bill, to be effectively implemented, they must be paired with a well-structured and robust financing mechanism,” Winkler said.
Polluters
The climate change bill will become the country’s first legislation to focus on climate change and hold national, provincial and local governments accountable for mitigating climate pressures, with many environmental activists hoping the bill will be passed by parliament before its term ends in 2024.
The bill would then need to go to the National Council of Provinces before being signed into law.
The bill could limit the emissions of industrial powerhouses such as Sasol, ArcelorMittal and Eskom because it affords broad powers to the minister to write regulations determining limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
Creecy is pushing for the bill to be adopted by parliament before the 2024 elections, Winkler said.
But there are no time frames for the writing of the regulations, which is a concern to some.
Melissa Fourie, an environmental lawyer, said: “Once the Climate Change Act is in place, the minister must regularly revise and publish revised sectoral targets [and] revised carbon budgets, and require increasingly more ambitious greenhouse gas emissions mitigation plans from Eskom, Sasol and ArcelorMittal.
“This will require strong political commitment from government, real investments by corporate polluters — and will need a strong civil society movement to hold both government and polluters to account.”
The bill leaves quite a lot up to regulations, Rapson said.
Regulations allow for flexibility as they can be updated by a minister and be put out for comment for 30 days, whereas changing an act is much more difficult.
Rapson said: “Section 27 is especially notable in the broad powers it will afford the minister to make regulations on a wide range of climate change matters, including regulations on carbon budgets, on the phasing down of synthetic greenhouse gases, and on monitoring and assessing information related to greenhouse gas emissions.”
Fourie noted the bill does not have consequences for missing targets — though polluters that exceed limits are expected to pay a higher carbon tax when carbon tax becomes law.
Rapson said section 27 gives the minister the power to prescribe offences and penalties in the regulations.
Winkler and Fourie have joined many in asking that it is clearly stated in the bill that emissions of large companies should be made public to prevent complications and delays in accessing data.
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