South Africa Releases Latest Greenhouse Gas Report
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dr Dion George, has officially published South Africa’s 9th National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, providing estimates of the current emissions levels.
nnnn“An accurate, complete, and updated greenhouse gas emissions inventory is a good foundation for effective mitigation responses,” the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said on 10 February.
nnnnThe National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (NIR) was published in Gazette Number: 52067 on 7 February 2025. It covers the period 2000-2022 and will be part of the First Biennial Transparency Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
nnnn“South Africa is required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to provide in its national inventory, on a gas-by-gas basis and in mass units, estimates of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), by sources and removals by sinks.
nnnn“The 9th NIR is compiled in accordance with the standard National Inventory Report format in line with the Convention Reporting Guidelines,” the department explained.
nnnnIn 1997, the Republic of South Africa ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992 (Convention).
nnnnThe Republic of South Africa is obliged under Articles 4(1)(a) and 12(1)(a) of the Convention to prepare and report on national Greenhouse Gas emissions and removals to the Conference of the Parties (COP).
nnnn“The main objective of the Convention is to stabilize Greenhouse Gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous human-induced interference with the climate change system.
nnnn“The primary use cases of the inventory report are to support informed policy and decision-making on viable climate change mitigation response measures for South Africa, to achieve the envisioned transition to a lower carbon economy and a climate-resilient society, as aspired by the National Development Plan (Vision 2030) and the National Climate Change Response Policy (2011),” the department said.
nnnnGovernment’s National Climate Change Response Policy was approved in October 2011 and was formally published as a White Paper in the Government Gazette.
nnnnThe objectives of the policy include effectively managing inevitable climate change impacts through interventions that build and sustain South Africa’s social, economic, and environmental resilience and emergency response capacity.
nnnnThe 9th National GHG Inventory Report can be accessed for more information at this link.
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