The sixth assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an important contribution to enhancing scientific understanding on climate change that must inform international policy at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, says Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy.

“Climate action remains a national and international priority and South Africa remains firmly committed to contributing our best effort towards the global cause of addressing climate change.

"In this regard, we will be submitting our revised Nationally Determined Contribution to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions to the UNFCCC ahead of COP 26.

“Sustaining the global temperature [rise below 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels] by the end of the twenty-first century will require global-scale negative emissions in the second half of the century to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.

"In this regard, the work of the [South African] Presidential Climate Commission to identify pathways for a just transition to a low-carbon economy and climate-resilient society by mid-century has never been more important,” Creecy says.

South Africa supports the common position of the African Group of Negotiators ahead of COP26 that ambition and climate action need to be dramatically increased to advance all three of the interconnected global goals in the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, namely mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation.

In this regard, it is urgent that developed countries urgently honour their obligation to provide financial support to developing countries who already face the impact of climate change, the Minister states.

“In the context of this report, issues of climate justice have never been more compelling. As we transition our energy generation and at least seven sectors of our economy, we must ensure that those involved in the vulnerable sections of our society and economy do not carry a disproportionate burden for climate change and its mitigation.

“[State-owned power utility] Eskom has already commissioned significant research on the impact of the transition on coal-fired power stations facing decommissioning later this decade. Significant long-term financial resources, at concessional rates, will be needed to introduce new technologies and open up significant new job creation opportunities so that our country joins others who are benefitting from the green technological transition across the world,” says Creecy.

African countries are already struggling to adapt to the reality of a changing climate and they urgently require international support for their mitigation and adaptation efforts. To avoid the stark future foreshadowed by the IPCC report, COP26 needs to prioritise securing finance, technology and capacity building support from developed to developing countries.

Meanwhile, the assessment report, which was released on August 9, is the first in a series of reports to be adopted under the IPCC sixth assessment cycle.

In 2022, the IPCC will release the more reports on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, a report dealing with mitigation of climate change and a synthesis report of the key findings.