Carbon Tax Act, 2019 (Act No. 15 of 2019)

SINCE, in ratifying the Paris Agreement, South Africa together with other countries committed to help limit warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to implement climate policy measures to incentivise absolute emission reductions;

AND SINCE, carbon pricing measures are recognised as important policies as part of climate policy packages that help to price GHG emissions and create incentives for changes in the behaviour of both consumers and producers that drive reductions in GHG emissions in a cost effective, flexible manner;

AND SINCE, as the coverage of carbon pricing measures expands globally, the impacts on industry competitiveness are likely to be reduced and the benefits and investment opportunities will increase for new, low carbon industries;

AND SINCE, it is also critical to ensure that the risk mitigation measure does not affect the ability of the carbon tax to address the climate change objectives and should take into account the impact of the measure on the environmental effectiveness of the carbon tax price signal;

THEREFORE, while internalising the social costs of greenhouse gases, to address potential risk of carbon leakage and reduced industry competitiveness, transitional support is provided to sectors and subsectors through a special, targeted trade exposure allowance.

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by Regulation as follows:—