Scaling up climate action in South Africa

South Africa is one of the many governments from around the world who have committed to limiting temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Current efforts are simply insufficient. Aggregate mitigation targets, according to Climate Action Tracker (CAT) estimates, result in global warming of about 3.2°C. Implementation of these targets is also falling short, with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under implemented policies leading to an estimated warming of around 3.4°C. Much more needs to be done. To stay below the globally agreed limit, the IPCC Special Report on 1.5℃ finds that an increase in efforts is required to peak global GHG emissions as soon as possible, reduce CO2 emissions to net-zero around 2050 and total GHG emissions shortly thereafter. This report, analyses areas where South Africa could accelerate its climate action. The report illustrates GHG emissions reductions from such actions, along with other benefits.