The Climate Change Act, South Africa's most comprehensive legislative framework for climate action, has come into operation but certain significant sections of the Act were deferred in the President's proclamation on Monday.

South Africa marked the commencement of the country's most comprehensive legislative framework for climate action to date, with President Cyril Ramaphosa officially proclaiming the Climate Change Act, 2024 (Act No 22 of 2024) in the Government Gazette on Monday.

The Act is a statutory framework for climate adaptation and mitigation, indicating how the country as a whole (across departments, municipalities, provinces and the private sector) will be moving to tackle climate change and transition towards a more sustainable, low-carbon economy.

This piece of legislation has been described as sorely needed as the country faces increasing weather and climate-related disasters.

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George said on Monday the Act was a critical milestone reflecting the government's commitment to achieve a just transition to a low-carbon economy.

However, significant sections of the Act were deferred, with their commencement moved to a later date.

George said the reason for this was that the department was developing a set of regulations that would enable their implementation.

"Some of the draft regulations are at an advanced stage of development and will be gazetted for public input and comment soon," he said.

These include:

The listing of the Presidential Climate...