An Analysis of the Regulatory Framework for Mitigating Climate Change in the Oil and Gas Sector in Uganda

Abstract

Whereas Uganda ratified the Paris Agreement and by this committed to efforts to act on climate change, the nascent oil and gas sector may be a counter move especially in the context of an oil and gas regulatory framework that is not climate proofed. To examine how responsive Uganda’s oil and gas sector regulatory framework is to climate change, this study was conducted. The findings show that the oil and gas regulatory framework was developed at a time when climate change issues were not fully appreciated. Most oil and gas regulations of 2016 make reference to the 1995 National Environment Act (NEA), the overarching environmental law which was recently repealed to among others provide for emerging issues like climate change. It, therefore, becomes critical for the said regulations to be expeditiously revised and aligned with the 2019 NEA. The NEA, being largely a framework law, appears thin on the oil and gas specifics which, therefore, points to the need for sector specific (in this case the energy sector) climate change mainstreaming guidelines as provided for in the Climate Change Policy 2015. Enactment of a climate change law would be very pivotal in fast tracking this policy provision which has hitherto remained unimplemented by most sectors.