South Africa’s government will revise the draft carbon tax bill tabled last November in order to take into account the nearly 100 submissions received to date through its public consultation.

The announcement was made on Wednesday by finance minister Pravin Gordhan during the country’s 2016 budget speech.

No mention was made regarding the tax’s initial rate of R120 ($7.71) per tonne of CO2, nor about the start date, which observers say is likely to be Jan. 1, 2017.

South Africa’s Chamber of Mines applauded the decision, with the organisation’s CEO Roger Baxter adding “with the current economic conditions facing the industry, the mining industry will struggle to remain competitive if a carbon tax in introduced in the short term.”

Under the draft bill, emitters are to receive exemptions of up to 95% of the tax and be allowed to use carbon offsets.

It calls for all sectors of the economy to be covered except waste management and forestry and land-use, which the government said should be exempt for the first phase due to “measurement difficulties”.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com