The core purpose of the Alliance for Climate Action is to engage, encourage, and support organisations in the public and private sector to take individual and collective action to contribute to developing a climate resilient, socially just and equitable future economy for South Africa. In order to become part of this network, organisations sign up to the commitment statement using the sign-up link below and start working to develop an internal net zero plan to decarbonize. Signatories ultimately lend credibility and gravitas to the alliance by turning their bold commitments and decarbonization plans into action- individually and collectively.
The alliance offers a selection of resources through its local and international partner organisations to support signatories in developing internal net zero carbon plans as well as a range of collective action projects signatories can join that are conceptualized, managed and implemented by the local convening partners. Explore the sections below for more information.
Access the leadership statement and sign up online
Access the tools and guidance you need to develop a successful net zero plan for your organisation
Join forces with a range of likeminded organisations leading collective action projects to scale up your contribution for a thriving and inclusive net zero South African economy
It is not enough to ask stakeholders to make a commitment if we are to realise our goal of a carbon neutral, climate resilient, thriving and inclusive economy for South Africa by 2050.
You’ve signed the ambition statement- what next? The ACA provides coalition members with the necessary tools, guidance and communities to support them on their journey to net-zero emissions by 2050. In addition, members are encouraged and enabled to work together on a wide variety of initiatives to jointly contribute to achieving a net zero economy for South Africa by 2050. Four of South Africa’s major cities have already made the commitment and are developing their climate action plans in line with this ambitious target but they cannot do it alone.
Take your commitment a step further by proactively developing a long-term plan for how your organisation will achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and contribute to the national effort. The ACA-SA commits to providing the tools, guidance and communities of practice necessary to enable you to achieve your goals.
The One Planet City Challenge, is an international WWF initiative which invites cities in participating countries to report ambitious and innovative climate actions and to demonstrate how they are delivering on the 2015 Paris Agreement. It invites cities to:
1.Report ambitious climate commitments, in line with the Paris Agreement and the 1.5 °C global warming goal; and
2. Report ambitious, cross-cutting, inclusive big-win climate action plans that deliver on those commitments.
CDP is the global standard for measurement and reporting of company and city level climate change and water information. CDP helps companies to understand and manage their carbon emissions and climate risks and assists investors to understand the climate risks associated with their portfolios. The NBI is the local partner to CDP and assists with managing and analysing local data for companies.
Science-based targets (SBTs) provide scientific context to the scale of the climate change challenge for individual companies that enables measurement of performance. The WWF is the local focal point for the SBTs initiative and both the NBI and the WWF engage with SBT initiative representatives to assess and improve the developed local target setting methodology.
We Mean Business is a global coalition that is catalysing business action and driving policy ambition to accelerate the zero-carbon transition. It has established an action framework, under the umbrella of net zero carbon economies by 2050, collating the most effective corporate action campaigns around the world to enhance company ambition and implementation.
The NBI has selected four of the We Mean Business focus areas where we think local impact can be maximised. As the local partner of the coalition, the NBI can help members make sense of international trends and provide a developing market perspective to the international effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.
For more information, visit We mean Business, or to get involved, contact: Reitumetse Molotsoane
Browse a range of collective action projects you can join to convert your bold climate commitments into action by working collectively with others. These projects that are conceptualised, managed and implemented by the local convening partners and include various opportunities for you to be involved. Contact the relevant organisation for more information.
Every year, the NBI hosts the South African Pavilion at COP in partnership with the National Department of Environment, Forestry and fisheries.
This is an excellent opportunity for stakeholders to:
1. Build strong relationships between business and government, setting the stage for big collective implementation projects with all spheres of government and civil society.
2. Build your brand and profile your actions to address climate change with a range of local and international stakeholders.
3. Build the brand of the South African community effort locally and internationally.
COP26 is a crucial moment for significantly ramping up commitments for climate action and for positioning your organisations as leaders of the low carbon economic transition.
Contact NBI to join the COP26 Delegation 2021 – [email protected]
The NBI is currently engaging with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)and member companies to develop a pipeline of adaptation projects that can access funding from the adaptation portion of the Green Climate Fund. We also continued to make useful data available to companies for their adaptation planning, including through supporting the release of the second edition of the Southern African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA).
For more information, or to get involved, please contact the NBI – [email protected]
The NBI founded the Western Cape Drought Task Force in November 2017 to facilitate collaboration between the private sector, Cape Town city and provincial government in support of drought relief efforts across the Western Cape. With the end of the drought, the Task Force was rebranded to keep the momentum and provide a platform for business to continue to provide input into addressing medium- and long-term water issues in the Cape. The NBI water team is currently working on setting up a similar platform in Gauteng to build a network of business and government stakeholders together to manage future water shortages and looming water crises due to aging water infrastructure in the province with a rapidly expanding population.
For more information or to get involved, contact the NBI – Alex McNamara [email protected]