Accordingly, the first phase of carbon budgets in South Africa 2016-2020 is being implemented as a voluntary pilot in preparation for a second mandatory phase to commence in 2021. Phase one, as just started, does not include compliance measures. The decision to start with a voluntary phase was influenced by a lack of an appropriate legal instrument. Carbon budgets are allocated to a selection of individual entities in the form of a cumulative target level of GHG emissions that they are permitted to emit over a five year carbon budget period. Beyond 2020, they are expected to become compulsory, more so, when the Climate Change Bill currently underway in the Executive becomes a law or an Act of Parliament.