Countries · South Africa
Climate change in South Africa
South Africa has warmed 1.2 °C on average, about as fast as the world as a whole (+1.1 °C over the same period).
South Africa: national average temperature, 1950–2025 (°C)
1950 → 2025. South Africa's warming stripes.
South Africa's CO₂ emissions
South Africa: annual CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and industry (million tonnes)
Cities in South Africa
Frequently asked questions
How much has South Africa warmed?
Averaged over the whole country, the last ten years (2016–2025) were 1.2 °C warmer than 1951–1980 according to Copernicus ERA5 — about as fast as the global average of 1.1 °C over the same period. Land areas warm faster than the oceans, so most countries warm faster than the global figure.
How much warmer will South Africa be in 2050?
Climate models project South Africa to be about 1.4 °C warmer in 2040–2059 than in 1995–2014 under an intermediate scenario (SSP2-4.5; model range 1.0–2.1 °C), and 1.9 °C under very high emissions (SSP5-8.5).
How much CO₂ does South Africa emit?
South Africa emitted 440 million tonnes of CO₂ from fossil fuels and industry in 2024, 1.1% of the global total, or 6.9 tonnes per person — 1.5 times the world average. Historically it has emitted 1.2% of all CO₂ since 1750.
Sources: World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal; Our World in Data – CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Global Carbon Project)
Licence: Temperature: ERA5 (CC BY 4.0) and CMIP6 (CC BY-SA 4.0) via World Bank CCKP. Emissions: Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0 (Global Carbon Budget). · Generated 17 October 2026 · Methodology