South Africa consultation to develop national carbon credit market

National Treasury has published a consultation paper titled ‘Developing the South African Carbon Credit Market’.

• Main announcement/action: The paper proposes reforms to modernise carbon credit infrastructure and clarify legal and financial regulation, including: legislative clarity on the “intangible status of carbon credits” to support ownership and transferability; enabling recognition as financial instruments; upgrades to the Carbon Offset Administration System (COAS) to improve functionality, automation, and track ITMOs under Article 6.2; development of local certification methodologies and empowering SANAS to accredit validators and verifiers; and classifying credits as “unlisted securities” to enable off-exchange and listed trading.
• Background and implementation details: The paper recommends strengthening oversight by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, engaging global financial bodies on risk weightings to encourage bank participation, clarifying exchange control rules for cross-border voluntary credit trading and derivatives, and coordinating with the carbon tax policy and South Africa’s NDC. Stakeholder engagement: submit feedback via the online questionnaire by 1 December 2025 (link: https://forms.office.com/r/dfUdeeu5Ee). For queries use Financial.Policy@treasury.gov.za; media enquiries: media@treasury.gov.za.