Abstract

This report analyses the potential implications of the proposed carbon tax for South Africa from an environmental and an economic perspective. A review of all the relevant literature on the topic was undertaken and a synthesis of the information available created, with the aim of objectively reviewing the implications of the carbon tax for the country. It looks at implications carbon tax would have on the country’s emissions, economic growth and employment;arguments by various stakeholders; and the interactions between the carbon tax and other proposed climate change mitigation measures proposed by the government. It also concludes that carbon tax holds negligible potential, from an emissions reduction perspective, and that the tax could have an unsustainable negative economic impact. The REIPPPP alone holds immense potential as an instrument for emissions reduction. Further, this article avers that a carbon tax is unnecessary and would be ineffective, and should therefore not be implemented.