The National Business Initiative (NBI) offers its member companies an international leadership platform on which to demonstrate their climate action and commitments and build the networks necessary for implementation. This platform is the South Africa Pavilion that the NBI hosts in collaboration with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) each year.

The annual Conference of the Parties, or COP, refers to the main decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is UN lead Climate Change Conference that takes place in a different host country each year. It includes representatives of 198 countries that are signatories to the UNFCCC, of which 194 are signatories to the landmark agreement for the mitigation of climate change, the Paris Agreement.

The COP represents the platform to negotiate and assess the effectiveness of measures introduced by the Parties to limit the impacts of climate change and meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the average global temperature increase to well below 2˚C above pre-industrial levels.

South Africa’s pavilion in the Blue Zone, comprises of over 40 business organisations and social partners each year. This is one of the NBI’s most impactful leadership platforms and is a strong platform for our member companies to also demonstrate their leadership in these spaces in the international arena. It is also a space aimed to bring an ambitious and coordinated business voice on climate action for South Africa.

South African business and government stakeholders have recognised both the physical and transition risks presented by climate change to the country’s economy and society. In response, we have, over the past two and a half years, developed well researched and widely consulted decarbonisation pathways to net-zero emissions by 2050 and to a more sustainable, resilient, and socially inclusive society. These pathways are ambitious, and as a developing country characterised by high levels of unemployment, inequality and poverty, as well as low economic growth, we also need to pursue them in a way that is Just and ensures that no one is left behind. To successfully implement a Just Transition in South Africa, there is a need to make bold commitments and raise finance to support them.