this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

‘‘adaptation’’

means any adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities;

‘‘adaptive capacity’’

means the ability of systems, institutions, humans and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to respond to consequences;

‘‘carbon budget’’

means an assigned amount of greenhouse gas emissions allocated to a person in terms of section 27 for direct emissions arising from the operations of that person over a defined time period;

‘‘Carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e’’

means the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions with the same global warming potential as one metric ton of another greenhouse gas;

‘‘carbon sink’’

means any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere;

‘‘climate change’’

means a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods;

‘‘commissioner’’

means a commissioner of the Presidential Climate Commission appointed in terms of section 10(4);

‘‘Department’’

means the national department responsible for environmental affairs;

‘‘direct greenhouse gas emissions’’

means greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by a person;

‘‘Disaster Management Act’’

means the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002);

‘‘district municipality’’

means a district municipality established in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act;

‘‘ecosystem’’

means a dynamic system of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment, interacting as a functional unit;

‘‘environment’’

has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the National Environmental Management Act;

‘‘Gazette’’

when used in relation to—

‘‘greenhouse gas’’

means gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and re-emit infrared radiation;

‘‘greenhouse gas mitigation plan’’

means the mitigation plan contemplated in section 27(4) which contains mitigation measures prepared specifically for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions;

‘‘indirect greenhouse gas emissions’’

means emissions that are a consequence of the activities of a person, but occur at sources owned or controlled by another person;

‘‘Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act’’

means the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act No. 13 of 2005);

‘‘just transition’’

means a shift towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy and society and ecologically sustainable economies and societies which contribute toward the creation of decent work for all, social inclusion and the eradication of poverty;

‘‘Local Government: Municipal Structures Act’’

means the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998);

‘‘mayor’’

in respect of the different types of municipalities, means—

‘‘MEC’’

means the member of the Executive Council to whom a Premier has assigned responsibility for the environment;

‘‘metropolitan municipality’’

means a metropolitan municipality established in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act;

‘‘Minister’’

means the Cabinet Minister responsible for environmental affairs;

‘‘mitigation’’

means a human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the carbon sinks of greenhouse gases;

‘‘Municipal Forum on Climate Change’’

means a Municipal Forum on Climate Change contemplated in section 9;

‘‘National Climate Change Response White Paper’’

means the White Paper on the National Climate Change Response published under Government Notice No. 757 in Gazette No. 34695 of 19 October 2011;

‘‘national department’’

means a department listed in Schedule 1 to the Public Service Act, 1994 (Proclamation No. 103 of 1994);

‘‘Nationally Determined Contribution’’

means the Nationally Determined Contribution, as amended from time to time, prepared in terms of Article 4(2) of the Paris Agreement and submitted by the Republic to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in terms of Article 4(12) of the Paris Agreement;

‘‘National Environmental Management Act’’

means the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998);

‘‘national greenhouse gas emissions profile’’

means the latest trends in national greenhouse gas emission totals with and without sinks;

‘‘national greenhouse gas emissions trajectory’’

means the national greenhouse gas emissions trajectory contemplated in section 24;

‘‘National Greenhouse Gas Inventory’’

means the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory contemplated in section 29;

‘‘organ of state’’

means an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;

‘‘Paris Agreement’’

means the Paris Agreement adopted by the Twenty-First Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, France, on 12 December 2015, and ratified by the Republic on 1 November 2016;

‘‘policies and measures’’

means the manner in which an organ of state exercises a power or performs a function in response to climate change through implementing planning instruments, policies and programmes to mitigate emissions relating to the requirements stipulated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement or any other global climate change agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

‘‘prescribe’’

means prescribe by regulation;

‘‘Presidential Climate Commission’’

means the Presidential Climate Commission referred to in section 10;

‘‘Provincial Forum on Climate Change’’

means a Provincial Forum on Climate Change contemplated in section 8;

‘‘Public Finance Management Act’’

means the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999);

‘‘regulation’’

means a regulation made, and includes a notice issued, under this Act;

‘‘Resilience’’

means the capacity of social, economic and environmental systems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance, responding and re-organising in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure, while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation;

‘‘sector’’

means a collective term for a group of activities with similar characteristics which either emit greenhouse gases or are vulnerable to climate change;

‘‘sectoral emissions targets’’

means quantitative or qualitative goals informed by sectoral policies and measures that may lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions, for the sector or sub-sector, over a defined time period as determined in terms of section 25;

‘‘sub-sector’’

means, in respect of mitigation, a further subdivision of a group of greenhouse gas emitting activities as defined by the latest version of the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme in 1988;

‘‘sustainable development’’

has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the National Environmental Management Act;

‘‘synthetic greenhouse gas’’

means an artificial greenhouse gas as declared by the Minister in terms of section 28;

‘‘this Act’’

includes the Schedules to this Act and any regulations or notices issued under this Act;

‘‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’’

means the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 1992, and ratified by the Republic on 29 August 1997; and

‘‘vulnerability’’

means the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes.