South Africa’s climate battle: mining district exposes gaps in emissions control

In South Africa, the new 2024 Climate Change Act requires local governments to plan responses to global warming. These local authorities should find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions where possible, such as from their bus services, and reduce their use of electricity that is produced by burning coal. They also need to green buildings and urban areas. These are all examples of climate change mitigation.

South Africa’s government is structured into national, provincial and local (municipal) levels. South Africa has 257 municipalities – cities, towns and districts. They are responsible for reducing the impacts of climate change in their areas and must also assist the national government in achieving its goal of balancing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted and removed by 2050 (net zero).

We are a research team of geographers with interests in sustainability transitions and climate change governance. We set out to examine how climate change mitigation was being applied in the West Rand District Municipality. This is a peri-urban municipality in western Gauteng where the economy is firmly rooted in the mining sector. Almost 900,000 people live in the area.

We reviewed the publicly available greenhouse gas emissions data, and the municipality’s policies and regulations. We also interviewed government officials to understand the municipality’s climate action efforts.

Our research found huge gaps in this municipality’s ability to deliver on climate mitigation.

Read the full article here: https://theconversation.com/south-africas-climate-battle-mining-district-exposes-gaps-in-emissions-control-242820