Pretoria - All South Africans should play an active role in the global fight against climate change, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.
“If all sectors implement the measures to fight climate change at the same time, together we can build the biggest mitigation buffer against climate change. We can save our country and the world for future generations,” he said in Pretoria.
“Our economy will become resilient to the possible effects of climate change only when we take bold steps like the reduction of emission of carbon dioxide and other gases that lead to increasing global temperatures.”
Zuma was addressing government officials at the official opening of the department of environmental affairs' “green building” head office named Environment House.
“With this construction, government has already taken a bold step with the 25 years' public-private partnership investment worth R8 billion rand in this green building, said Zuma.
“To assist all sectors to contribute to the fight against climate change, we have released the National Strategy for Sustainable Development, which is accompanied by strategies such as the New Growth Path and the Green Economy Strategy.”
Construction of the building had been undertaken since 2012.
The environmental affairs staff moved into the building in July.
In a statement, the department said Environment House has received a six Green Star SA rating from the independent Green Building Council of SA.
“It is the first government building in South Africa to achieve a six Green Star rating. It is also the first six Green Star rated building in the city of Tshwane,” according to the statement.
The building was recognised for areas including efficient energy consumption, environmentally friendly transportation modes, efficient state-of-the-art water saving devices, emission reduction systems and solar energy innovation structures.
Sapa