South African business is engaging with government on climate change policy issues in preparation for the seventeenth conference of parties (COP 17), which would be held in Durban, in November and December.

Speaking to Engineering News Online, Impala Platinum CEO David Brown, who is also the co-chairperson of a CEO forum that would support the South African government at COP 17, said that issues currently being considered were the climate change and the carbon tax discussion papers.

“These are the two pieces of policy that we need to vigorously engage on with government to ensure that whatever policy is adopted does not have unintended consequences,” said Brown.

The South African government is planning to introduce a carbon tax from 2012, amounting to R75/t on carbon dioxide emissions. The proposed tax was announced in December last year and in March the National Treasury said it was working on plans to take the tax forward.

But, Brown noted that there were many considerations around the implementations of such a tax. He highlighted that South Africa’s power mix, which currently comprises mainly coal, would make it unfair to tax businesses on their power input emissions.

In addition, a carbon tax was only one option to reduce emissions and he noted that business would also present government with a range of other options that could be implemented to assist the country in transitioning to a lower carbon environment.

“We need to ensure that as a developing nation we get a balance between moving to a lower carbon environment and ensuring the growth of the South African economy.

“The primary issues that need to be addressed in South Africa are that of poverty alleviation and job creation and we need to ensure that whatever policy decisions are taken do not impede our ability to do so,” said Brown.

As a developing country, South Africa is not obliged to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions, but the country ranks among the world’s top-20 emitters. The government has pledged a 34% emissions reduction below business as usual by 2020.

Brown said that business supported government’s drive towards a lower-carbon environment, but would prefer a national action plan to mitigate carbon emissions rather than hard-wired targets that could have unintended consequences.

The CEO forum, comprising more than 40 members from all sectors of the South African economy, would also assist government in respect of logistics and other practical aspects of the Durban climate change meeting, Brown noted.