ABSTRACT
The South African Government is pursuing the implementation of a Carbon Tax Bill through legislation. The shortfalls in implementing such legislation in pursuing environmental and socio-economic prosperity, is evaluated. In essence, this paper addresses the risk of non-comprehensive legislation in measuring environmental burdens and the importance of context sensitivity when measuring sustainability in developing countries. Following these issues, the responsibility of the road sector to guide and construct a sustainable measuring framework is highlighted, with key elements in the development of such a tool discussed. Life Cycle Analysis and rating tools are compared and risks and best practice are weighed considering current trends of both methods. A way forward and mitigation measures are proposed including some aspects for possible further development of critical elements for localization.
