Spotlights On South Africa’s Climate Crises

Around mid-January 2019, the South African government hosted 2 high-profile gatherings about how to counter climate-related disasters. Both gatherings took place under the directives of the United Nations to implement its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Agenda 2030.

The first gathering, held in Cape Town, was a Ministerial Conference under the banner of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE). Recently appointed Environmental Affairs Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, opened the PAGE conference, welcoming her guests and underscoring the significance of the gathering against the backdrop of the 2018 climate talks (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland. Minister Mokonyane also used the occasion to mention a few green economy projects of her own government to transition South Africa ‘to a low carbon economy and climate resilient development path’.

The second gathering, held in Durban, was a lead author meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II, tasked with fine-tuning the scientific tools to measure global warming and countervailing actions. The IPCC operates under the joint leadership of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Working Group II concentrates on ‘Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’, scrutinising volumes of studies and statistics released on its theme since the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). These reports provide the scientific basis for agreements on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) among its 195 member states. Inputs of these scientists are crucial in determining the ‘global warming tipping point’ – preventing the average temperature of our planet to rise 1.5oC above the pre-industrial revolution average by 2050.

A few months before these UN gatherings in Cape Town and Durban, the host country published two key documents on its own climate crises. In addition to releasing the country’s updated National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (a task under the country’s UNFCCC obligations), parliament also considered National Treasury’s revised Carbon Tax Bill with its implementation date set for 1 June 2019.

Knowing the types and scale of toxic gases that contaminate the air, rivers, dams, oceans and soil is vital, as mounting and incontestable evidence demonstrates that these toxic emissions are edging into a danger zone that threatens the existence of all life on our planet. South Africa’s GHG Inventory Report, compiled by climate experts under the leadership of the Department of Environmental Affairs, confirms this escalating danger. Environmental pollution is worsening alongside droughts and storms that set new records.

GHG emissions soared by 20% over the 15 years (2000-2015) covered in the report!  Energy generation (burning of fossil fuels) and waste (incineration and open waste burning) accounted for roughly 93% of this astounding rise in greenhouse gas pollution! Industrial and steel factories, mineral extraction (mining) with livestock farming, remain the big polluters, spilling toxic gases into the atmosphere on an unprecedented scale. Yet the authors of the report fail to derive a logical conclusion from the evidence confronting them: a fossil fuel-addicted model of concentrated wealth accumulation is fuelling global warming and the resulting ecological devastation.

In the meanwhile, government is pressing ahead with finalising the country’s Carbon Tax Bill, which has been in the works for almost a decade. This Bill promises to punish emitters involved in environmental pollution beyond carbon emission levels fixed in law. It includes lucrative rebates and subsidies for polluters who supposedly comply with the prescripts of the Bill, thus exposing green capitalist reformism as flawed and a fraud. The rebates and subsidies virtually nullify the expected tax  that polluters will eventually pay! Moreover, the logic of capitalism will dictate how to reinvest carbon tax revenues in job creation and renewable energy schemes. As it stands, this Bill fosters the illusion that fiddling around with the amount of tax per unit of carbon emitted is a trustworthy weapon against capitalist environmental destruction.