Johannesburg — BUSINESS Unity SA (Busa) had undertaken to establish a high-level think-tank to contribute to continuing climate change negotiations, the organisation said yesterday.

SA committed itself at last year's climate change summit at Copenhagen to an ambitious carbon emissions reduction pledge, based on future projections of a likely emissions path, but there was concern that business had not been sufficiently consulted. Industry is likely to bear the greatest burden of a reduced emissions strategy.

Business leaders met Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on Friday to discuss the government's pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

SA undertook to reduce emissions 34% by 2020 and 42% by 2025 of what they would have been if there had been no intervention.

Jerry Vilakazi, CEO of Busa, said his organisation pledged business collaboration "in the significant research that is required to develop the mitigation action plans as well as the need to understand the business risks if climate change was not addressed".

The government's pledge is contained in the Copenhagen Accord and is among the most ambitious pledges made by any country.

Friday's meeting was convened in order for Sonjica to clarify the government's intentions.

Busa said that business leaders had expressed their commitment to working with the government to develop a strong national position on SA's emissions pledge, from now until the next United Nations climate change conference in Mexico in December. The detailed breakdown of the South African undertaking was not discussed.

But Busa said it was agreed that more detailed technical work is essential to ensuring that achievement of the targets will not constrain economic growth, which is essential to the attainment of developmental goals such as job creation.

Sonjica referred to the need to preserve sufficient carbon space for SA's development needs.

She assured business leaders that the government was committed to preserving such space and that development of detailed mitigation action plans would be undertaken in consultation with all stakeholders.

SA - as the 12th-largest emitter in the world, despite its status as a developing country - found itself under pressure at Copenhagen to reduce its emissions.

Peet du Plooy, trade and investment adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature , said the "vagueness" of SA's commitment meant there was "playing room", although the baseline emissions, which were used to calculate SA's planned reductions in future emissions, had been in the public domain for some time. SA has not, however, pledged to reduce by a specific amount.

"I don't think there's much more detail you can ask for. We are still in negotiations," he said.

SA's pledge is conditional on finance and technology transfer from developed countries, and Du Plooy said it "might be useful" to know what level of financing would unlock the pledge.

Eighty percent of SA's emissions are due to energy use such as electricity and liquid fuels. Du Plooy said an energy plan was needed to reduce SA's carbon intensity.