(Bloomberg) -- South Africa plans to establish a climate change response fund by March, the environment minister said.
The creation of the fund, which President Cyril Ramaphosa announced earlier this year, is an attempt to set aside money to pay for the strengthening of infrastructure against extreme weather as well as to restore bridges and roads damaged by those events.
“This will be crucial in financing adaptation and addressing loss and damage,” Dion George told lawmakers in Cape Town on Monday. “Climate change is warming Africa at approximately 1.5 times the global average rate, leading to more frequent and severe extreme weather events across the continent and in South Africa,” he said.
He also announced that parliament has adopted the Climate Change Bill that provides for a “detailed response to climate change, and the mitigation of greenhouse gases” which cause it.
(Updates with more comments from environment minister from paragraph three)
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