Magistrates' Courts "Lower Courts" Act, 1944
R 385
Climate Change Act, 2024 (Act No. 22 of 2024)Chapter 5 : Greenhouse Gas Emisssions and Removals27. Carbon budgets |
| (1) | The Minister must allocate a carbon budget to any person that conducts an activity listed in terms of section 26(2). |
| (2) | When allocating carbon budgets, the Minister must take all relevant considerations into account, including but not limited to— |
| (a) | the socio-economic impacts of imposing the carbon budget; |
| (b) | the best available science, evidence and information; |
| (c) | the best practicable environmental options available and alternatives that could be taken to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases; |
| (d) | national strategic priorities; |
| (e) | the alignment of the carbon budgets with the national greenhouse gas emissions trajectory, noting that the cumulative amount of greenhouse gas emissions which the carbon budgets represent are not equivalent thereto; and |
| (f) | progress on the implementation of the greenhouse gas mitigation plans. |
| (3) | A carbon budget— |
| (a) | must have a duration of at least three successive five-year periods; and |
| (b) | must specify the maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that may be emitted during the first five-year period. |
(4)
| (a) | A person to whom a carbon budget has been allocated in terms of sub-section (1) must prepare and submit to the Minister, for approval, a greenhouse gas mitigation plan. |
| (b) | A greenhouse gas mitigation plan must— |
| (i) | describe the mitigation measures that the person, to whom a carbon budget is allocated, proposes to implement in order to remain within the person’s allocated carbon budget; and |
| (ii) | comply with the content requirements of such plans as may be prescribed by the Minister in terms of section 30, including requirements pertaining to processes, procedures and reporting. |
| (5) | At the time when the carbon budget is assigned for the first mandatory carbon budget cycle, all approved pollution prevention plans as contemplated in section 29 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (Act No. 39 of 2004), and the National Pollution Prevention Plans Regulations, 2017, published under Government Notice No. 712 of 21 July 2017, must be deemed to be greenhouse gas mitigation plans. |
| (6) | A person to whom a carbon budget has been allocated must— |
| (a) | implement the approved greenhouse gas mitigation plan; |
| (b) | monitor annual implementation of the greenhouse gas mitigation plan in accordance with the prescribed methodology; |
| (c) | evaluate progress on the allocated carbon budget; |
| (d) | annually report on the progress against the allocated carbon budget to the Minister in the manner prescribed; and |
| (e) | in the event that such reporting indicates that the person has failed, is failing or will fail to comply with the allocated carbon budget, provide a description of measures the person will implement in order to remain within the allocated carbon budget. |
(7)
| (a) | The Minister must review a carbon budget allocated to a person in terms of subsection (1) at the end of the five-year carbon budget commitment period, or upon request by a person subject to a carbon budget. |
| (b) | Aperson to whom a carbon budget has been allocated may apply for a revision or cancellation of the carbon budget under circumstances to be prescribed in the regulations contemplated in section 30(2)(a)(i). |
| (c) | The factors listed in subsection (2) must be taken into consideration when a carbon budget is reviewed. |
| (8) | The Minister must, within a reasonable time of the review provided for in subsection (7), revise a carbon budget— |
| (a) | to ensure that it always has a duration of at least three successive five-year periods; and |
| (b) | if the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory demonstrates an increase in national greenhouse gas emissions above the national and international climate change mitigation commitments and obligations. |
| (9) | An allocated carbon budget may be amended if the activity for which the carbon budget has been issued is transferred or acquired in part or fully and the affected person must request a reallocation of a carbon budget from the Minister in the prescribed manner. |
