Justice Coherence in Climate Legislation: A Design‐Level Evaluation of South Africa's Climate Change Act 22 of 2024

ABSTRACT South Africa's Climate Change Act 22 of 2024 was enacted amid escalating climate risk, entrenched inequality, carbon‐intensive development, and uneven state capacity. This article evaluates the Act at the level of policy design rather than implementation outcomes. Gilbert and Terrell's allocation, provision, delivery, and finance dimensions are combined with distributive, procedural, recognitional, and restorative climate‐justice criteria. The Act and its commencement proclamation were coded at section and subsection level using a transparent matrix classifying justice mechanisms as present, partial, or absent. The analysis identifies four recurring design gaps: recognition without binding priority, participation without guaranteed influence, implementation mandates without differentiated capacity support, and justice commitments without fully specified finance or restorative mechanisms. Comparative reference to framework climate legislation in the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Victoria shows that these challenges are not unique to South Africa. The article advances the concept of justice coherence, arguing that climate justice should be traced across the full policy‐design chain. The framework provides a transferable basis for comparative analysis of climate legislation while remaining sensitive to jurisdiction‐specific institutions, capacities, and different implementation conditions.