SA policy ‘complicated’ – Minister

‘Energy policy, agricultural policy, and a number of other challenges – all of that will be brought together in one framework.’ He added that the department would focus pro-actively ‘on enhancing research on the impacts of climate change on key environmental assets and biodiversity management on land and in our oceans’. Full report on the News24 site

SA is keeping its options open about a new climate-change framework proposed by the US last week and reported in last week\'s Legalbrief Environmental. The government said it would look at the US proposal, but that it respected the current round of UN negotiations on the subject, the Mail & Guardian Online reports. Announcing the framework, US President George Bush said SA had a critical role to play in brokering a new long-term plan to combat climate change, and invited SA to be among about 15 key nations that would debate such a plan. SA is seen as a dealmaker between the developing and developed world. Full Mail & Guardian Online report

At a last week\'s provincial government summit on renewable energy and climate change, Tasneem Essop, Western Cape MEC for Environment, Planning and Economic Development, called on all parties in the province to commit themselves to an immediate plan of action that would see the province achieve its renewable energy target of 15% by 2014. By then the province hopes to have attracted R8bn of new investment into the renewable energy sector, according to Business Report. The summit was the last public event of a two-year planning process aimed at delivering a renewable energy and climate change strategy for the provinces. Essop said the environmental economy opened up a new window of opportunity for sharing wealth and creating jobs. Full report in Business Report Download the Minister’s keynote address at the summit

Also at the summit, Essop announced that she would begin drafting a renewable energy act for the Western Cape. The new legislation would include a range of incentives, tariffs and tax breaks to stimulate the use of renewable energy across the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. It may even see the introduction of a mechanism that pays residents who produce their own renewable energy, to feed this back into the national grid, the Cape Times reports. The legislation is also likely to include regulations that make it mandatory for new large housing projects to have solar water heating and energy-efficient devices in all houses. Sustainable Energy Africa director Leila Mahomed welcomed the move and said Essop had taken \'a very bold\' step. Full Cape Times report

Moving to Johannesburg, where Mayor Amos Masondo has signed a protocol with counterparts from some of the world\'s top cities to reduce the impact of climate change, notes The Star. As part of the initiative, sponsored by the Clinton Foundation, cities are expected to reduce energy use and cut greenhouse gas emissions, with subsidies provided by international investors. Johannesburg is already making some progress: a partnership with Eskom has resulted in the retro-fitting of five major city-owned buildings; solar water heaters are being installed in RDP houses in Cosmo City; solar lighting was being set up in Zandspruit; and, the city was investigating a landfill gas project that converts methane into energy as well as researching the use of alternative fuel for buses. Full report in The Star Read a second report in The Star