Industry organisation the Energy Council of South Africa has welcomed the passing of the Climate Change Bill by Parliament on April 25.

“The Climate Change Bill is a critical piece of legislation that seeks to enable the development of an effective climate change response and a long-term just transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society for South Africa,” the council points out.

It says the Bill aligns with the council’s strategic objective of a stakeholder-aligned national energy transition that achieves South Africa’s decarbonisation targets, while maintaining energy security and affordable access for all South Africans.

“The Climate Change Bill recognises that South Africa has a vital role to play in the global effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and that Southern Africa is especially vulnerable to those impacts of climate change which require urgent and appropriate adaptation responses.

“Further, it recognises that South Africa has made international commitments and obligations to communicate and implement effective nationally determined climate change response, mitigation and adaptation strategies that represent the republic’s fair contribution to the global climate change response,” the council states.

CEO James Mackay emphasises that it is critical to acknowledge the existential threat to the planet.

“Modern economic activity has clearly exceeded many of the planetary boundary conditions and it is our collective responsibility to address that with urgency. The Bill supports the constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to health and wellbeing of the people, and to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures that secure ecologically sustainable development and the use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development,” he says.

The council has urged all energy stakeholders to work collaboratively in contributing towards a just energy transition and supporting the sector’s efforts towards this goal.