Natural Justice made a submission to the Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and Environment in South Africa. It concerns the exclusion of Solar Photovoltaic Installations from requiring Environmental Impact Assessments.
While acknowledging the necessity of hastening the switch to clean energy, which includes greatly increasing the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and associated infrastructure for renewable energy in South Africa, Natural Justice is deeply concerned about the proposed blanket and overbroad exclusion of activities from the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process and the proposed use of the Screening Tool as a virtual substitute for EIA.
