SOUTH AFRICA is moving to impose taxes on carbon emissions.

The Treasury Department posted a 75-page discussion paper to its website in early January on which it is collecting comments through the end of February. 

The paper lists three options, but suggests the most likely is a direct tax on carbon emissions. The other two options are an input tax on fossil fuels and an output or sales tax on products sold by companies using fossil fuels. Any direct tax on carbon emissions is expected to start at R75, or $11.20, a ton, and escalate to R200, or $30, a ton.

The cabinet approved the paper before publication. South Africa will host the next round of climate change talks in Durban in late November. The last round was in Cancun, Mexico in late 2010.