South Africa's biggest polluters accused of derailing climate policy for 20 years

Mail & Guardian

26-05-2025

South Africa's largest corporate polluters have worked persistently over the past two decades, in public and in private, to derail an effective climate policy response by the government, according to non-profit shareholder activism organisation Just Share.
South Africa's largest corporate polluters have worked persistently over the past two decades, in public and in private, to derail an effective climate policy response by the government, according to non-profit shareholder activism organisation
The group has released a new
'Various aspects of our work … over the past five years have strongly indicated that business was influencing the evolution of climate policy,'
'We wanted to understand the degree of that influence and establish an evidence-based account of its impact.'
She said the two Acts have been 'the targets of persistent industry intervention'. Just Share used corporate submissions on legislative processes and records of industry's private meetings with the government, which were largely obtained via requests under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
This demonstrated how industry interventions, predominantly via
'… What is actually striking is how much we can't see, especially when it comes to the bilateral meetings between government and high-emitting companies, which remain hidden from public view and knowledge, unless specific requests for this information are made. Even then, we have no idea whether we are getting the full picture,' Schuster said.
While the report is by no means a comprehensive record of government and business interactions, 'even so, it demonstrates a clear pattern of influence'.
Resisting regulation
The implications of corporate influence are profound.
'The failure of the government's climate policy response to drive meaningful greenhouse gas emission reductions by big polluters means that the just transition to a low-carbon economy is not supported by a robust regulatory framework, which holds emitters accountable,' the report said.
This threatens to leave South Africa 'economically vulnerable, environmentally compromised and increasingly out of step' with global efforts to mitigate climate change.
Major polluters with powerful financial incentives to maintain the status quo inevitably resist regulation aimed at forcing them to internalise the social and economic costs of their operations — costs which are often borne by the rest of society, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
'It is the government's role to stand firm in the face of such resistance and to develop effective regulation, which addresses this profound injustice. But, as this report demonstrates, [the] government is susceptible to industry pressure.
'The corporate actors responsible for the pushback against climate regulation do not act for the benefit of the majority of South Africans but instead represent a narrow set of elite vested interests.'
Their historically powerful role in the economy, and the access that this affords them to policymakers, means that a 'cohort of major polluters dominates the national economic dialogue' and appears to have succeeded repeatedly in persuading the government to roll back its progressive climate-related policy initiatives.'
This success has been reinforced by the absence of any significant countervailing action from other local businesses, which stand to be severely affected if the country fails to decarbonise. This includes the automotive, agricultural, tourism and insurance sectors and the renewable energy industry.
'These industries do not appear to play any significant role in engaging the government on climate policy, leaving industry associations representing the interests of high emitters to set the agenda, and establishing major polluters as the arbiters of what constitutes acceptable climate progress,' the report said.
Schuster said industry associations play a crucial role because they allow individual companies to project their public commitment to positive climate action while they are able to act on their behalf and take positions that might contradict these.
'The industry associations are not bound by the same transparency requirements as companies are. They don't face shareholder or customer pressure and, crucially, they can speak within a unified voice, which obviously is much more influential with the government.'
Economic hostages
The report said industry players opposed to climate action have mastered the art of 'economic hostage-taking' through inflating their contributions to society and ignoring the damage they cause, while creating a false dichotomy between climate action and economic prosperity.
The carbon tax, initially proposed in 2006, has been systematically weakened over time in the face of consistent industry opposition.
'Consequently, the effective carbon tax is one of the lowest in the world … and has achieved neither the internalisation of the cost of emissions by big polluters nor a meaningful reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,' the report said.
After repeated extensions of the low-rate, introductory 'phase 1', South Africa's carbon tax, is now set to continue to allow up to 85% to 95% of tax-free allowances to remain at least until 2031.
Between December 2024 and January, following the release of the treasury's discussion paper on phase 2 of the tax, Sasol had three private meetings with it, the report said. When the now defunct March budget review was released, the most important proposals for increasing the effectiveness of the carbon tax in phase 2 had been abandoned.
Similarly, after at least a decade of preparation, the first Climate Change Bill was released for public comment in 2018. Also 'the subject of protracted opposition from industry', the Climate Change Act was only promulgated in 2024 and became operational in March 2025.
The report said that, not only have key provisions of the Climate Change Act not commenced, but high emitters have successfully lobbied to eliminate criminal penalties for exceeding carbon budgets.
Corporate narrative
Corporate actors have persistently driven a narrative which appears to have had a significant impact on policy outcome. This is characterised by three themes, which are 'deployed repeatedly over time', Schuster noted.
The first theme is 'positive contribution framing', where industry positions itself as essential to jobs, growth and the economy, and 'then threatens that regulation making its life more difficult will have catastrophic impacts on these things'.
The second is developing country framing. Here, it argues that South Africa is only a small emitter and should not be a leader in climate action to the detriment of their industry.
'Finally, is the pace and scale framing where industry acknowledges that a transition is necessary but again that
Schuster said each of these arguments that industry uses is 'politically potent' and together they manage to frame climate action in opposition to development goals, 'wilfully ignoring that the transition is about growth and development that replaces the current high unemployment, high poverty, coal-based economy with one that is more just and sustainable'.
Critical reforms
The scale and success of corporate influence is undeniable and yet most of it remains invisible, Schuster added. 'This imbalance has real consequences. South Africa's climate policy is not achieving its goal of reducing emissions and implementing the polluter-pays principle and it's ordinary people, especially the poor and vulnerable, who will bear this cost.'
The development of climate policy has been fundamentally imbalanced, allowing corporate interests to consistently override public interests in effective climate action. 'The success of high emitters in weakening climate policy now threatens the competitiveness and the stability of the entire economy.'
This, however, is not an inevitable outcome, she emphasised. Just Share is calling for greater transparency in government dealings with industry, inclusive policymaking that elevates marginalised voices and evidence-based policy impact assessment that is free from corporate interference.
Without these changes, South Africa's climate policies will continue to serve elite interests 'at the expense of people and the planet'.
Sasol noted the release of Just Share's report and said it would study it further, while Business Unity South Africa had not responded to the
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by the time of publication.
Minerals Council South Africa spokesperson Allan Seccombe said it acts as the principal advocate for mining in the country in engagements with the government on policy, taxes and other areas affecting mining.
'The Minerals Council seeks to create, in partnership with key stakeholders, a conducive policy, legislative and operating environment that facilitates growth and investment to grow the mining industry for the benefit of the economy and all South Africans,' he said.
He added that the council participated in workshops and provided data and responses 'to the challenges we were facing as an industry and as broader business' and its members were supportive of climate action within the national context and compliant with relevant laws.
'The Minerals Council has supported critical reforms that reduced load-shedding and accelerated renewable energy adoption,' Seccombe said.
He added that the mining sector is leading South Africa's energy transition, with about 16 000MW of embedded renewable energy projects with an investment value of R275 billion, according to data from Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative of the presidency and treasury to accelerate the implementation of structural reforms and boost the economy.
'These investments enhance energy reliability, lower operational costs and drive sustainability, aligning with both national and global decarbonisation goals.'