CLIMATE CHANGE: DRAFT 2ND NATIONALLY DETERMINED MITIGATION CONTRIBUTION REPORT OUT FOR COMMENT

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment has gazetted a draft report setting out South Africa’s second nationally determined contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change. Input is sought by 29 August 2025.

This is noting that:

  • Article 4.2 of the 2016 Paris Agreement requires signatory states to submit a report every five years
  • sections 31 and 32 of the partially commenced 2024 Climate Change Act domesticate this requirement, also providing for a mandatory public commentary period, and that
  • South Africa’s first report was submitted in September 2016 (when 2025 was formally set as the deadline for a second report).

According to the draft report’s introductory section, the second national determination contribution demonstrates’ ‘progression beyond the first’ – also reflecting ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of … national circumstances’.

Among other things, the document covers:

  • adaptation
  • mitigation
  • support (referring to enabling finance, technology and capacity building), and
  • loss and damage.

Special attention is paid to implementation-related monitoring and evaluation, as well as ‘tracking climate finance’.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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