The ‘State of Climate Action in South Africa’ report is the Presidential Climate Commission’s (PCC) first assessment of climate action in South Africa. It presents a snapshot of South Africa’s progress toward reducing emissions, enhancing climate resilience, and improving the lives and livelihoods of all South Africans—particularly those most impacted in the climate transition.

The report includes a chapter based on the HSRC’s South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) 2023 data on attitudes to climate change and the Just Transition.

In preparing this report, the PCC has taken the following actions:

· Assessed progress toward multiple priority indicators of change—encompassing mitigation, adaptation, finance, and the just transition—reviewing available data up until the end of 2023

· Interviewed more than a dozen experts on this progress to substantiate findings and provide broader context

· Studied the environment in which climate policy is made in South Africa, looking at the political, development, and economic factors that are enabling or preventing progress

· Conducted the first nationally representative survey on the just transition, together with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), surveying more than 3,000 South Africans on their perceptions, attitudes, and support for climate action and the just transition

The key finding from this work is that although South Africa has strong commitments and public support for tackling climate change and facilitating a just transition, progress is not happening at the pace and scale required to tackle a crisis of such proportion. Key barriers hindering progress include incoherent policies, weak governance structures, insufficient finance, and inconsistent actions by the government and other stakeholders. From these analyses, we are beginning to identify the immediate actions that must be effected to realise South Africa’s vision for the just transition and overcome these barriers.

Download the report on the Presidential Climate Commission’s website.