On 8 June 2018, the South African Minister of Environmental
Affairs (the "Minister") published the
draft Climate Change Bill, 2018 for public comment. Since then, the
Department of Environmental Affairs
("DEA") has undertaken a road show
across the country to solicit comments to the Bill and held further
bilateral meetings with stakeholders in August 2018. The written
comments are currently being considered by the DEA with a view to
incorporate these into a revised draft.
The Bill acknowledges that anthropogenic climate change
represents an urgent threat to civilisation and that in order to
respond to the challenges that climate change raises, an effective,
progressive and well-coordinated legislative framework needs to be
implemented. The purpose of the Bill is to communicate and
implement an effective nationally determined climate change
response, including mitigation and adaptation actions, that
represents South Africa's fair contribution to the global
climate
