Economists have warned that carbon pricing will damage South
Africa's economic growth and global competitiveness. South
Africa's high dependency on fossil fuel-powered energy has
earned it a place among the top 20 carbon emitting countries in
the world. In this year's Budget Speech, Pravin Gordhan
announced the implementation of a carbon tax for 2013-2014. A
draft policy is being drawn up for public comment. Carbon
pricing was the topic under panel discussion at the Mail &
Guardian's Critical Thinking Forum on Tuesday, hosted by the M&G
and BHP Billiton. Panellists drew a direct link between a carbon
tax and rising electricity costs. As Michael Rossouw, executive
director of Xstrata Alloys, argued: "We have not learnt to
decouple energy growth from carbon usage". So with energy
intensive mining and manufacturing sectors - key drivers of the
South African economy - the carbon tax will have a direct impact
on the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Rob Jeffrey,
Econometrix managing director, cited a recent