ESG TRACKER (SADC EDITION)
October 2022 | Johannesburg
Herbert Smith Freehills ESG Tracker (SADC Edition)
There are so many ESG-related publications and developments that it is hard to keep abreast of them all. For this reason, HSF publishes a monthly tracker of ESG-related publications and developments, with a primary focus on developments that may be of most interest to or impact our clients in the Southern African Development
Community, be they corporates, asset managers or asset owners.
If you have any ESG-related questions, please get in touch with your usual contact at HSF who will be able to direct you as appropriate.
This issue covers the period from 1 to 31 October 2022.
ANGOLA
13 October 2022
It has been reported that Angola is taking advantage of higher oil prices to accelerate its debt-reduction plans and smooth out repayments to China, its largest creditor. Africa's second-largest crude producer owes China $18 billion US Dollars, or about 40% of its total external debt, after settling loans totalling $1.32 billion US Dollars this year. Repayments will be stepped up next year, and the southern African nation's debt as a proportion of gross domestic product is projected to fall to about 61% in 2023, down from 66% this year and more than 100% in 2020.
14 October 2022
It has been reported that Angola's government is focussed on securing more funding from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank for critical infrastructure projects to boost the country's electricity and water provision. Angola has pushed ahead with ambitious reforms, spurred by sovereign credit rating
downgrades and tumbling bonds early in the pandemic, earning rating upgrades in recent months and placing its bonds and currency among Africa's top performers.
27 October 2022
It has been reported that the Executive Director for Angola's national concessionaire and upstream regulator, the National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), announced a number of changes and innovations including drastic cuts in approval times. Under the theme, `A new concessionaire offers a new way of doing business', the executive director offered a presentation on the current state of the Angolan oil and gas industry, stating that the regulator has succeeded in cutting red tape and streamlining the industry's approval processes. It was noted during his presentation that negotiations to obtain exploration licenses could be expected to start and conclude in under 12 months.
BOTSWANA
6 October 2022
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi commissioned a new 1.4 million tonne per year coal mine at state-owned Morupule Coal Mine (MCM), aiming to increase exports after demand for the fuel boomed since the start of the war in Ukraine. Botswana wants to become a key coal producer having already increased sea-borne exports in 2022 through Maputo and Walvis Bay. The new open cast mine, which will boost MCM's output by 50%, is part of its strategy to supply various markets with a cumulative total of 7.6 million tonnes of coal a year by 2027. This, in turn, will increase revenue to 3 billion Pula (US$222.6 million) from the 1 billion expected in 2023.
6 October 2022
It has been reported that Botswana is seeking to introduce the Community Based Natural Resources Management Act (CBNRM). The legislation will provide guidance on how community-based organisations (CBOs) can
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establish business arrangements and how to terminate business arrangements if they are not fruitful. It will also look at benefit-sharing between the government and the CBOs. This will ensure that there is rural development and communities benefit from the natural resources around them.
15 October 2022
It has been reported that the implementation of the Botswana's Data Protection Act has been postponed for a year. The Act was supposed to enter into force on 15 October 2022. The delay is a result of the additional time which the Data Commissioner requires to set up their office.
COMOROS
21 October 2022
It has been reported that the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a 5.76 million grant to the Comoros to increase food production and enhance the resilience of its food system. The move comes as the country has experienced rising food prices due to the war in Ukraine. The African Development Bank's Transition Support Facility will provide the grant. The Facility is a mechanism to help fragile African states consolidate peace, build resilient institutions, stabilize their economies, and lay the foundations for inclusive growth.
28 October 2022
The Saudi Fund for Development delegation laid the foundation stone for a $5 million US dollar water project in Moroni, Comoros, according to a press release from the Saudi Press Agency. The project aims to establish a water treatment plant, rehabilitate and construct water tanks, in addition to constructing distribution networks in villages, and improving drinking water sources from the former water distribution network. It will benefit about 83,000 people in 17 villages, enhancing water and food security, reducing the rate of disease and epidemics, and facilitating access to clean drinking water sources.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
4 October 2022
It is reported that, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) led calls for increased funding to support mechanisms that will slow down climate change and fight its impacts at the start of pre-COP27 climate talks in Kinshasa. At the opening ceremony of the DRC's parliament building, the Congolese Environment Minister for Environment called
on countries to respect financial pledges and endorse plans to support compensation for climate-inflicted damage. The Minister added that funding to protect carbon-absorbing rain forests of which the DRC has vast tracts should be viewed not as aid but as an investment in humanity's future.
4 October 2022
It has been reported that at a climate conference held in Kinshasha, the United States climate envoy, John Kerry asked the DRC to withdraw some of the oil blocks it has put up for auction in order to protect forests. Environmentalists fear the auction could open parts of the world's second-biggest rainforest and peat lands to drilling that could release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, jeopardising climate goals to mitigate the impact of global warming.
9 October 2022
The DRC has been placed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the intergovernmental anti-money-laundering body. The country was added to the FATF's so-called increased-monitoring program to improve its financial structures to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
27 October 2022
It has been reported that sustainability consultancy RHT Green and strategic advisory firm RHT Consulting Asia have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the DRC to support the implementation of multi-sectoral sustainable development projects in the country.
KINGDOM OF ESWATINI
12 October 2022
It has been reported that eSwatini is cracking down on illegal dumping of medical waste. The Ministry of Health, the eSwatini Environment Authority and other law enforcement agencies have collaborated to investigate the crime and trace where the medical waste comes from. The waste includes used syringes, adult disposable nappies and expired blood collection vials for laboratories.
LESOTHO
11 October 2022
It has been reported that Lesotho's Director of the Department of Environment admitted that mining companies are polluting water sources on which rural communities.
MADAGASCAR
14 October 2022
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched the Anticipatory Action (AA) system as part of efforts to bolster smallholder farmers' ability to withstand shocks as Madagascar approaches the lean season with up to 1.9 million people estimated to suffer from acute hunger, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). In southern Madagascar, up to 80% of the population relies on small-scale and often rainfed agriculture. Consecutive drought episodes have decimated crop yields, livestock productivity and depleted water sources. The AA system helps to build communities' absorption capacity and increase productivity.
MALAWI
19 October 2022
According to a press release issued by the Malawi Revenue Authority, companies incorporated in Malawi are free to reorganize themselves in substance or form but there could be tax implications. The Taxation Act defines reorganization as: a mere change in a company's form; a recapitalization of a company; a combination of two or more companies into a single company; a division of a company into two or more companies; acquisition of at least 80% of equity interests in a company in exchange solely for equity interests in the acquiring company; and acquisition of at least 80%, by value, of assets of a company in exchange solely for equity interests in the acquiring company.
MAURITIUS
28 October 2022
According to a press release issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change. This forms part of the `Indian Ocean Regional Project Mauritius Implementing Sustainable Low and non-Chemical Development in SIDS' (ISLANDS) Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and supported by the UNDP Mauritius Country Office. The project aims at protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of hazardous chemicals and wastes in Mauritius.
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MOZAMBIQUE
14 October 2022
According to a press release issued by the African Development Bank, it has approved a grant of $2.5 million US dollars to the Mozambican government to develop renewable energy resources. The grant will be used to implement the Mozambique Renewable Energy Integration Program (MREP). The funding will assist the national electricity company to provide financial support for technical, economic, environmental and social feasibility studies for the development of a solar floating power plant in Chicamba reservoir. In addition, it will support funding for a feasibility study for Energy Battery Systems Storage in up to ten sites.
NAMIBIA
5 October 2022
The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) launched a responsible investment and active ownership policy, citing it is the fund's duty to act in the best long-term interests of its beneficiaries. The new policy will facilitate the integration and implementation of environmental, social, and corporate governance into all aspects of the fund's investment activities, as governed by the GIPF investment policy.
17 October 2022
It has been reported that Namibia is drafting three pieces of legislation that will guide the management of wetlands in the country. These laws will be: (i) the Water Resources Management Bill; (ii) the Environmental Management Bill and (iii) the Parks and Wildlife Management Bill. Namibia has developed a comprehensive wetlands policy aimed at integrating sustainable management into decision-making at all levels.
25 October 2022
Namibia has called on parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to submit more ambitious national determined contributions and to adopt ambitions deadlines for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions. The call is contained in Namibia's position paper to the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
SEYCHELLES
4 October 2022
It has been reported that the 9th Seychelles-European Union (EU) Political Dialogue saw the tabling of pertinent topics covering a wide range of political, environmental and socio-economic issues. The political dialogue promotes sustainable
development and climate action, encourages development cooperation and strengthens strategic partnerships in key priority sectors.
9 October 2022
The Seychelles Cabinet of Ministers has approved and gazetted the Consolidated Fair Trading Bill. This new law seeks to implement better practices at the Fair Trading Commission and seeks to ensure alignment and harmonisation with international best practice.
SOUTH AFRICA
10 October 2022
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria dismissed a bid to have the environmental authorisation (EA) for Eskom's proposed gas power plant in Richards Bay overturned. The application was brought by environmental justice NGOs the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance and Groundwork against the EA granted to Eskom in December 2019. The EA authorised a combined cycle 3000MW gas power plant intended to be fuelled by gas via a pipeline to be installed from the Richards Bay Port. Noting the failure to advertise and notify the public in a language other than English, the judgment said "the cavalier approach of the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries and Eskom to this aspect is to be deprecated". The judgment further noted that such an oversight could have warranted setting aside the decision to grant the EA, were it not for the fact the Environmental Authorisation for the construction of the gas plant is merely the first link in a chain of successive applications that will have to be processed for the associated gas infrastructure.
17 October 2022
It has been reported that an Inquiry established by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) into alleged racial profiling by medical schemes and administrators has been halted over an apparent impasse between the industry regulator and an investigating panel with both sides accusing the other of delays in the process. The panel was appointed by CMS in 2019 in response to allegations from black healthcare providers that they were being treated unfairly based on race. Finalising the report is important for healthcare providers and the medical schemes industry because it is expected to deal with racial discrimination and the extent of the powers afforded to schemes in terms of section 59 of the Medical Schemes Act to investigate fraud and claw back funds erroneously paid to service providers.
26 October 2022
On 26 October 2022, the Special Appropriation Bill was introduced into Parliament. The Bill seeks to allow the appropriation of additional money for the requirements of Public Enterprises and Transport, which will fund various public enterprises and transport projects. The purpose of the funding for public enterprises will be to drive investment, productivity and transformation in the department's portfolio of state-owned companies to unlock growth, drive industrialization, create jobs and develop skills. The purpose of the funding destined for transport is to lead the provision of an integrated, sustainable, reliable and a state transport system through planning, developing, coordination, promoting and implementing transport policies, regulations and strategies.
31 October 2022
The Presidency has released ZAR1.5 trillion under the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (Plan) for the next five years to assist the country's just transition to a greener economy. The three priorities under the Plan focus on (i) funding interventions in the electricity sector, (ii) developing capacity for new energy vehicles or electric vehicles and (iii) developing the green hydrogen sector. The funding also includes a "just" component which involves programmes of support for workers and communities to be reskilled and upskilled to participate in the new industries.
UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
1 October 2022
The regional East African Court of Justice ruled that Tanzania's 2017 decision to evict the Maasai community from the Serengeti National Park was legal. The Maasai people of the Ololosokwan village, Oloirien village, Kirtalo Village and Arash village claimed they were brutally and forcefully removed from their ancestral land. The Tanzanian government refuted claims of human right violations during the eviction process. They subsequently argued that the Maasai community is destroying the National Park because of their growing population and adversely affecting tourism. The East African Court of Justice ruled that the Maasai community has not provided sufficient evidence to prove their claims.
1 October 2022
Tanzania is set to enact its first Personal Data Protection Law in 2022. The Personal Data Protection Bill of 2022 will be Tanzania's first comprehensive set of rules relating to personal data protection, covering both electronic and non-electronic personal data forms. The law also includes criminal sanctions for certain personal data breaches.
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ZAMBIA
7 October 2022
It is reported that Namibia and Zambia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Facilitating Private Sector Development and Implementation of an Oil Products and Natural Gas Pipeline Project (NAZOP). The NAZOP pipeline will be built from the port of Walvis Bay to Zambia and it is envisioned that it will supply 100 000 to 120 000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products in Namibia and Zambia. The NAZOP pipeline system also aims to supply other countries in the SADC region.
25 October 2022
The World Bank has approved a $275 million US Dollars development policy operation for Zambia. The operation is an integral part of the International Development Association's (IDA) substantial contribution to help Zambia recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and the impacts of the war in Ukraine, emerge from its debt crisis and to shift to a more sustainable
and inclusive growth. The country is currently in debt distress, therefore the operation will support the country's reforms to restore fiscal and debt sustainability and promote private sector-led growth.
ZIMBABWE
3 October 2022
The Zimbabwean cabinet has approved aspects of the Economic Empowerment Bill, which seeks to repeal previous legislation that has been condemned as investor unfriendly. The Bill will repeal the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act and pave way for the enactment of the new Economic Empowerment Act.
5 October 2022
The United States Department of Labour's latest report on goods produced by child labour shows that Zimbabwe has made minimum progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labour mainly in agriculture which is the mainstay of its economy.
9 October 2022
Mining companies exploiting precious and high-value minerals in Zimbabwe will soon be required to cede a portion of their refined mineral products to the Zimbabwean Government as part payment of royalties under a new policy to build a national reserve of valuable minerals. In his weekly column for The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa advised that he had directed the Ministries of Finance and Economic Development and Mines and Mining Development to finalise drafting the enabling policy guidelines.
14 October 2022
It has been reported that the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) plans to inject more funding into supporting the accident prevention and workers' compensation scheme in Zimbabwe, given the prevalence of accidents and injuries occurring at the workplace across the country.
Africa
7 October 2022
The 2022 Labour Rights Index, co-created by the WageIndicator Foundation and its affiliate, the Centre for Labour Research, has been launched. The 2022 edition builds on the previous version released in 2020 and provides objective legal data on the labour market in
135 countries. This is up from 115 countries studied in the 2020 Index. As such, it is the only index that compares labour laws at this scale. The Labour Rights Index evaluates countries along ten indicators fair wages, decent work hours, employment security, family responsibilities, maternity at work, safe work,
social security, fair treatment, child and forced labour, and trade unions. These indicators (and 46 sub-indicators) are derived from the Decent Work Agenda of the United Nations. Based on their scores, countries are graded on a six-point scale ranging from a "Total Lack of Decent Work" to "Decent Work".
Global
7 October 2022
On 21 September the U.S. Senate, with strong bipartisan support, gave advice and consent to ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The United States will soon join 137 other countries that have already ratified the Kigali Amendment, which calls for a gradual reduction in the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons, which are potent greenhouse gases. Its global implementation should avoid as much as half a degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century.
25 October
According to the 2022 World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index the rule of law has declined globally. The World Justice Project's analysis of in-depth survey data in 140 countries and jurisdictions shows that adherence to the rule of law fell in 61 per cent of countries this year. As the world emerges from the pandemic, the Index finds that rule of law declines are less widespread and extreme than last year, when Covid shutdowns dramatically disrupted justice systems and governments exercised emergency powers that curtailed civic freedoms and bypassed accountability mechanisms.
26 October 2022
United States and Japan announce a partnership with Ghana to support its goal of being the mover in Africa for small modular reactor deployment. The announcement follows the October 6-7 visit to Ghana of Deputy Secretary of Energy Turk and an interagency team, including the State Department, for consultations on enhancing cooperation on civil nuclear energy with the Government of Ghana and its agencies including Nuclear Power Ghana and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. Through these joint efforts, Ghana has the opportunity not only to demonstrate leadership in advancing energy security and climate action globally, but also establish itself as a regional centre of excellence in Africa for the deployment of innovative nuclear technologies. The full press release can be accessed here.
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R ecent and upcoming HSF ESG-related publications, webinars and events
Patents in hydrogen on the up a prediction of things to come?
Israel and Lebanon reach historic deal that will pave the way for offshore energy exploration in previously-contested areas of the mediterranean sea
environment and climate features present in 2023 federal budget
proposed amendments to the environmental protection act 1994 (qld) introduced
release of the draft pfas national environmental management plan 3.0 (pfas nemp 3.0): submissions open
new guideline released for large-scale solar projects
Key SADC ESG contacts
The ESG Tracker SADC Region is compiled by lawyers based in our Johannesburg office.
Peter Leon Partner Johannesburg T+27 83 250 9781 [email protected]
Ernst Mller Senior Associate Johannesburg T+27 64 75 333 76 [email protected]
Justine Sweet Consultant Johannesburg T+27 83 399 2618 [email protected]
Amanda (Mandy) Hattingh Associate Johannesburg T+27 79 425 4502 [email protected]
For a full list of our global offices visit HERBERTSMITHFREEHILLS.COM
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