We assist South African businesses, developers and investors with environmental law, environmental risk, EIA processes, compliance and regulatory appeals.
Caveat Legal’s environmental lawyers advise South African businesses, developers and investors on environmental risk and compliance — including as part of M&A due diligence, energy project development, and property transactions. Our environmental law practice works closely with our M&A and energy teams, providing integrated advice where environmental law intersects with commercial transactions.
Environmental Law encompasses laws and regulations concerned with conserving nature and ensuring that human activities do not cause unacceptable harm to the environment. It includes legislation regulating waste, pollution, climate change, land use and development, water, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, protected areas and species, alien and invasive species, and aspects of mining.
Our environmental lawyers advise on the full range of environmental law, including environmental risk in the context of commercial transactions (e.g. due diligence investigations when purchasing land, businesses or shares); compliance with environmental legislation, environmental impact assessment processes, appeals and reviews of government decision-making, and associated litigation strategies.
Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.
- Robyn Bandey, Caveat Panel Member
Environmental Law Regulations in South Africa
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“Constitution”) is the all-encompassing statute. Section 24 of the Constitution sets out the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing, and calls on the government to take legislative and other actions to:
- prevent pollution and ecological degradation;
- promote conservation;
- secure ecologically sustainable development; and
- use natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
To this end, a number of key pieces of legislation (and regulated regulations) have been enacted, including the:
- Hazardous Substances Act, 1989;
- Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (MPRDA);
- National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (NEMA);
- National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (NEM:AQA);
- National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (NEM:BA);
- National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003 (NEM:PAA);
- National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (NEM:WA); and
- National Water Act, 1998 (NWA).
NEMA plays a crucial role in providing for co-operative environmental governance by:
- establishing principles for decision-making on matters affecting the environment;
- establishing institutions that will promote co-operative governance and procedures for co-ordinating environmental functions exercised by organs of state; and
- providing for any matter connected with the above bullet points;
Key environmental regulatory authorities include the:
- Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA);
- Department of Mineral Resources (DMR); and
- Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
All spheres of government and all organs of state must co-operate, consult and support one another on matters involving or affecting the environment.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions on Administrative Law
Environmental law in South Africa is anchored in the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and its specific environmental management acts, together with a framework of regulations governing environmental authorisations, waste, air quality, water use, and biodiversity. It sets out when an activity requires assessment or approval before it can proceed, and the ongoing obligations that apply once a project is operating.
An environmental authorisation is required before undertaking any activity listed under the EIA Regulations issued in terms of NEMA – this covers a wide range of activities, from construction and land clearing to energy generation and waste facilities, depending on scale and location. The specific listed activities are periodically updated.
Timeframes are set out in the EIA Regulations and vary depending on whether a basic assessment or a full scoping and impact assessment process applies – basic assessments are generally faster, while full scoping processes involve more extensive public participation and technical study, and can take considerably longer. Delays commonly arise from incomplete applications, extended public participation periods, or requests for further information from the authority.
A basic assessment applies to activities with generally more limited or predictable environmental impact, and follows a shorter, more streamlined process. A full scoping and environmental impact assessment applies to activities with potentially more significant impacts, and involves a more detailed scoping phase, technical specialist studies, and extended public participation before a decision is made. Which process applies is determined by which listed activity a project falls under, not by project size alone.
Beyond project-level environmental authorisations, companies increasingly face broader sustainability reporting expectations – from statutory obligations tied to specific licences and authorisations, to voluntary or investor-driven ESG and climate-related disclosure. For listed and larger companies in particular, sustainability reporting is moving from a “nice to have” toward an expected part of governance and stakeholder reporting, and the requirements in this space are evolving quickly.
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