Cape Town - The cabinet has approved the draft carbon tax policy and it will now be published for comment, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said on Thursday.
The policy presented the environmental and economic rationale for carbon tax measures to address climate change, he told a media briefing following the cabinet's last regular meeting of the year.
"It focuses on the merits for carbon taxes to price carbon and seeks to (among other things) influence consumer and producer behaviour through a price mechanism," he said.
The draft policy tabled three carbon emissions tax options for consideration.
These were a direct tax on actual measured emissions, a fossil fuel input tax based on carbon content of fuels, and an output tax that could be applied to emitters where fuel was burnt.
The draft paper would be published shortly for public comment, Chabane said.