The Effect Of The Post-Kyoto Protocol Agreement On South African Businesses

Climate change and all its associated effects are going to have

an effect on South African businesses. It is expected that

Government will commit to a carbon emission reduction programme at

a global meeting of nations in Copenhagen, scheduled for December.

The summit, which is expected to be more widely accepted than its

predecessor, the Kyoto protocol, will lead to the implementation of

new laws that will have an effect on South African businesses.

There is at present little doubt that an agreement will be

reached. The only uncertainty is the shape or form the global

agreement and the resulting legislation will take. The consequence

is that South African companies are at present in the uncomfortable

position of choosing whether to hold off making changes until the

new legislation is implemented and play catch-up with those who

have; or to start predicting the likely changes which are going to

have to be implemented. In addition to this, international markets

are becoming more environmentally conscious, affecting the

expansion efforts of South African companies with large carbon

footprints.

The UN summit in Copenhagen will try to reach global agreement

on how to tackle climate change. During the build up to the summit

we have seen and are likely to hear of political wrangling and

manoeuvring between developed and developing nations, with each

trying to guide the agreement to meet their own agendas as well as

to impose the least stringent measures on themselves while trying

to get everyone else to do as much as possible.

The amount by which each nation will have to reduce their

omissions is likely to be debated strongly, preceding the summit

and at the summit itself. The general consensus in academic

writings is that the "rich" nations, besides having to

reduce their own omissions, will have to assist, both financially

and technologically, the developing countries in order for them to

support the agreement and address global warming and its

consequences.

Currently, in South Africa there are no regulations obliging

companies to report on greenhouse-gas emissions. This is one area

in which South African companies are going to have to develop. Most

companies view environmental reporting as a largely reputation

enhancing exercise, rather than as part of a strategy to reduce

emissions. But that is expected to change after the UN summit,

which will likely require mandatory reporting of all significant

greenhouse-gas emissions.

It is estimated that...