In 2015, a tax on carbon emissions will be introduced in South Africa

Representatives of SASOL, Anglogold Asshanti and ArcelorMittal SA report that it is necessary to clarify how the tax on carbon emissions in 2015 will be entered.

Nevertheless, they performed at a briefing of national business initiatives South Africa in Johannesburg about a tax policy regarding carbon. Business problems related to a document published last month are in tune with questions raised by parliament deputies at the beginning of this month.

The deputies said that the hasty introduction of carbon emissions can have a negative impact on the growth rate of the economy of South Africa, with a relatively small effect on the global greenhouse effect. The tax is aimed at reducing the volume of emissions.

The proposed measures for carbon emissions were published and are now open for public discussion.

According to the Ministry of Finance, South Africa by any standards is a significant manufacturer of greenhouse gases.

Mr. Cecil Morden, director of the department of economic analysis of taxes in the Ministry of Finance, said that South Africa was in a very peculiar situation. This is due to the need to enter a carbon tax, in order to reduce its emissions, against the background of the fight against slow economic growth, unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Mr. Morden also emphasized that "our volume of emissions increased even at a time when our economy was not too good. We have various environmental problems, and climate change is one of them."