South Africa's net greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions decreased marginally by about 0.8% between 2000 and 2020, the eighth National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (NIR), released by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy on April 26, shows.
Net GHG emissions in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent were 446-million tonnes in 2000 and declined to 442-million tonnes in 2020.
However, in the period between 2017 and 2020, net GHG emissions declined by 5.9%, primarily as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Power generation; transport; industrial fuel use; fugitive emissions from processing of fuels; livestock and waste management are the biggest sources of GHG emissions in South Africa.
"Even though the emissions profile declined between 2017 and 2020, preliminary assessment using data from the South African Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting System system for 2021 shows that some of the emission sources have increased compared with 2020 levels.
"This implies that, from 2021 onwards, the most carbon-intensive assets are likely to return to pre-Covid emission rates," the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment states.
“The GHG inventory is central to tracking the implementation of South Africa’s Nationally Determined Contribution. We are proud of the robust format of our monitoring, which has been developed over the past 15 years, and includes both public comment and independent verification and is designed to support domestic and international reporting obligations,” Creecy says.