South Africa Domestic Offsets Standard Framework

South Africa Domestic Offsets Standard Framework

Gnarly Tree Sustainability Institute, the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and a team of South African experts from Climate Legal and CarbEnviro are working with the Republic of South Africa Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the country’s National Treasury to develop and test a framework to guide the development, assessment, and approval of potential eligible domestic carbon offset standards that can be used as a complement to the country’s Carbon Tax.

At the project outset, the team identified key stakeholders with an interest in the offsets regulations and framework and organized and led over two dozen focus groups and personal meetings with stakeholders in the government, private, and nongovernmental organization sectors. GTSI collated, evaluated, and summarized all feedback received as a critical consideration in all facets of the framework design.

The team’s ongoing work is to develop a framework for domestic offset standards that is rigorous and protective of the integrity of the country’s greenhouse gas mitigation objectives while at the same time minimizing the administrative burden for government, standard developers, project developers, and all other stakeholders. The team is also working to develop a comprehensive guideline manual for all participants and observers of the offset system.

Services: Policy Instrument Choice and Design; Stakeholder and Public Engagement