Summary/Abstract
This expert report was written by Robert Scholes and Francois Engelbrecht, and filed by plaintiffs in the case African Climate Alliance et al. v. Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy.
In this report, the authors summarize the then-current state of knowledge about anthropogenic climate change, and its impact on Africa south of the 15th degree south parallel. This review spans a wide range of climate change impacts to this region, including freshwater availability, long-duration droughts, heat waves, agricultural yield and viability, infrastructure damage, and species impacts of climate change.
The underlying case, African Climate Alliance v. Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy, arose when, in November 2021, the African Climate Alliance (a youth-led organization), Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, and Groundwork Trust, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights filed proceedings in the High Court of South Africa to challenge the South African government’s decision to include 1,500 MW of new coal-fired power in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019. For more information about this case, visit the Sabin Center’s Climate Litigation Database.
Note: This climate attribution research was presented in the context of a contested legal proceeding. Different countries, courts, and legal forums may have different standards for expert testimony, and may conduct fact-finding based on legal standards of proof that differ from those applied in academic publishing. Readers should independently investigate and understand the bases for the assertions made in this document before applying this research in other contexts.