The processing of the National Climate Change Response Policy Green Paper through public hearings in March and April 2011 was one of those flagship projects that the Portfolio Committee was involved in. The outcome of the public hearings and Portfolio Committee deliberations on the same were compiled into a set of recommendations that fed into the White Paper on Climate Change. The Portfolio Committee also held public hearings in Parliament on the White Paper upon its official adoption by Cabinet in October 2011 to gauge public views on this framework Government policy for climate change in the lead to the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that South Africa hosted in Durban from 28th November to 11th December 2011. The public hearings indicated that the White Paper was a product of national consensus and also signalled to the Portfolio Committee the need to conduct regular monitoring of the implementation process of the White Paper.