IMBEWU Key Projects

Royal Danish Embassy: Climate Change Programme

Within the context of the international CDM regime IMBEWU has been contracted by DANIDA (Danish International Assistance) and the Royal Danish Embassy as a member of a team of local and international consultants seeking to identify and develop CDM projects in South Africa. IMBEWU’s responsibilities include providing advice on domestic and international CDM requirements, monitoring of local and international developments in climate change, the content of agreements for the purchase and sale of Certified Emissions Reductions, and general environmental legal issues pertinent to the various CDM projects under development.

Central Energy Fund (CEF) (2006 - 2007)

IMBEWU was commissioned by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) to research and co-draft a carbon markets business strategy for CEF entitled: "Overview and Analysis of the Commercial Opportunities offered by the International Carbon Market and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol".

eThekwini Municipality (Since 2003)

IMBEWU has retained, since April 2003, by the eThekwini Municipality to provide environmental and climate change legal and transactional advice in respect of the landfill gas to power generation CDM projects on the Mariannhill, La Mercy and Bisasar Road landfill sites. IMBEWU's tasks include legal process advice on environmental authorisations, all climate change process and commercial, contractual and transactional aspects of the projects, including in the voluntary carbon market.

Global Climate Network (GCN) Institute for Public Research (ippr) (Since 2008)

IMBEWU is a member of the British government funded GCN, the secretariat of which is run by the ippr (http://www.globalclimatenetwork.info/) In this context IMBEWU has researched and drafted the following South Africa-specific studies:

"Technology and Bali Action Plan: Defining technology needs and addressing barriers to its development and transfer",
"Low-carbon Jobs in South Africa", and,
"Financing Action on Climate Change in South Africa".

Massmart Holdings Limited

Preliminary overview of the international and national legal framework pertaining to climate change (2009): IMBEWU was requested by Massmart Holdings Limited (Massmart) to prepare a preliminary overview of the international and national legal framework pertaining to climate change, which framework was likely to inform Massmart's development of its strategic corporate response to climate change. The report provided an overview of the international legal framework and of key "sectoral" international legislative developments/approaches related to climate change, with direct implications for Massmart. The report also provided an analysis of the South African policy and regulatory framework related to climate change and a set of preliminary recommendations.

Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) - Strategic Climate Change Response framework (2009)

IMBEWU, in a collaborative partnership with Merchantec Capital (Pty) Ltd and the University of the Witwatersrand, have been requested by DBSA to provide technical assistance for the development of a strategic climate change response framework. The work includes developing a strategic framework, developing capacity building tools and documenting the best practices adopted by DFI's to address climate change.

One World Sustainable Investments (Pty) Ltd - Southern African Regional Climate Change Programme (RCCP) (2009)

IMBEWU is part of One World's team to deliver the RCCP. Our responsibilities include assisting in providing guidance, where necessary and appropriate on the development of the SADC, and broader African position, in the context of international climate change negotiations, and to assist SADC negotiators in their preparation for COP 15 - the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, December 2009 in Copenhagen. IMBEWU brings a specific knowledge of the international climate change legal architecture: (i) to the future of the negotiations; and, (ii) for the strategic climate change choices that must be made in the domestic context.

Transnet National Ports ("TNPA")

This project is a collaboration between IMBEWU and Coastal Environmental Services ("CES"). The Climate Change Risk Assessment and Strategy Development is aimed at identifying, financially assessing and providing recommendations to address the main risks and liabilities associated with ports in the light of global climate change. The overall objective of the project is to develop TNPA's Climate Change Risk Assessment and Strategy that must ultimately seek to identify those TNPA activities and assets that are at risk from climate change impacts.

IMBEWU's role in the project was to, inter alia:

Develop the problem setting for the project;
Develop an overview of the international, national and other legislative developments relating to climate change;
Develop an overview analysis of ports internationally in relation to the issue of climate change;
Develop an overview analysis of transport and the shipping industry in relation to the issue of climate change;
Provide general strategic guidance and comments on other aspects of the project.

Technology and the Bali Action Plan: Defining technology needs and addressing the barriers to its development and transfer.

IMBEWU has been contracted by the Institute for Public Research (IPPR) to provide specified environment legal and policy assistance for the project "Technology and Bali Action Plan: Defining technology needs and addressing the barriers to its development and transfer". This project, part of a portfolio of Bali Action Plan-related projects being jointly developed by members of the Global Climate Network, will aim to

Investigate low carbon technologies that policy- and decision-makers in key countries believe should be prioritised, in which sectors and for which purposes they are required (e.g. to help meet sustainable human or economic development goals);
Summarise, using existing literature and data, the barriers that exist to the development, transfer and wide diffusion of these/comparable technologies;
Set out different views of the barriers to the development and 'transfer' of technology, such as those relating to the commercial, legal and technical issues and those relating to 'know-how' skills and institutional capacity; and
Propose a range of policies and approaches drawn from the views of those in key countries and from the literature that might help illuminate the technology development and transfer negotiations.

The project will be managed by IPPR in the UK, with research taking place in a range of developed and developing countries where Network members are located. These might include china, India, Brazil, the US, the UK, South Africa, Nigeria, Malaysia and Germany.

The objective of this research is to illuminate the technology development and transfer debate by:

providing insights into necessary technologies, potential national and international barriers to the widespread uptake of such technologies; and
summarising the current status of each category of clean/low carbon technologies in each country

In particular, the project seeks to illuminate the debate by bringing relevant and detailed national-level perspectives to bear on an often vague and politically diffuse debate in the ongoing climate negotiations.

The project's modus operandi involves IMBEWU conducting and recording interviews with individuals in South Africa, identified as knowledgeable in the areas to be addressed by the project and, in particular, seeking to explore perceptions of country's technology needs. IMBEWU will then consolidate the information collected in a country report.

Gautrain Rapid Rail Link EIA

IMBEWU managed the environmental legal aspects of the EIA for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Project from 2002 until 2006. The project is a multi-billion rand government initiative to link Johannesburg and Pretoria with the Johannesburg International Airport by way of a state of the art high-speed rail system and is currently the biggest public private partnership project of its kind in the world. For further information on the project and the EIA see www.gautrain.co.za and www.gautrain-env.co.za.

Basic capacity-building project

IMBEWU was a team member of the BASIC Project (South Africa, Brazil, India and China), Building and Strengthening Institutional Capacity on Climate Change, a project of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, to be operated under the auspices of the European Union during 2005 and 2006. IMBEWU’s role is inter alia to conduct research into, and develop materials on, policy coherence, institutional coordination and clarifying institutional responsibilities in the international climate change arena, including for CDM. See www.basic-project.net.

Limpopo Power Station EIA

IMBEWU is advising and assisting the Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) regarding various aspects of a proposed Power Station and Power Line Development in Limpopo Province.

Projects also include:

Undertaking environmental health and safety legal due diligence investigation, including for a property acquisition in the Western Cape and regarding a mining property acquisition in Gauteng.
Compilation of Site Specific and Corporate Level Safety, Health and Environmental Legal Registers for a wide variety of clients around South Africa.
Advising on environmental authorisation requirements for major mining and industrial undertakings, including associated with an innovative waste disposal strategy.

Transnet National Ports ("TNPA")

IMBEWU developed the existing TNPA SHE Legal Register in early 2007. The TNPA SHE Legal Register as developed by IMBEWU was prepared specifically for TNPA operations and links environmental, health and safety legal requirements directly to: the specific environmental aspects and impacts associated with the client's operation; the specific health and safety risks and hazards associated with the client's operation; and the key environmental and health and safety permits, licences, authorisations and permissions held by the operation. It also provides the full text of key environmental and health and safety legislation at the national, provincial and local authority levels and detailed legal commentaries on the key legal obligations. The TNPA SHE legal register is a single integrated tool that assists in complying with the requirements of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

For further information regarding projects or experience in a particular area or discipline please contact us.