150 © Creative Commons With Attribution (CC-BY) Published by the UFS http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/as Emmanuel Kabundu Dr Emmanuel Kabundu, Building and Human Settlements, PO Box 77000, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa. Phone: 0729017550, email: kabunduemmanuel@ gmail.com, ORCID: https://orcid. org/0000-0001-6201-465X Sijekula Mbanga Prof. Sijekula Mbanga, Building and Human Settlements, PO Box 77000, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa. Phone: 0729674093, email: sijekula.mbanga@mandela. ac.za, ORCID: https://orcid. org/0000-0001-9439-7552 Paul Makasa Prof. Paul Makasa, Architecture, PO Box 77000, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa. Phone: 0840948026, email: paul.makasa@mandela. ac.za, ORCID: https://orcid. org/0000-0003-3533-5276 ISSN: 1023-0564 ▪ e-ISSN: 2415-0487 Received: October 2021 Reviewed and revised: March - August 2022 Published: December 2022 KEYWORDS: Building material, carbon tax, emission intensities, energy intensities, input-output analysis, welfare HOW TO CITE: Kabundu, E., Mbanga, S. & Makasa, P. 2022. The 2019 carbon tax in South Africa: Efects on relative cost of building materials, welfare, emissions, and energy consumption for households.. Acta Structilia, 29(2) pp. 150-189. THE 2019 CARBON TAX IN SOUTH AFRICA: EFFECTS ON RELATIVE COST OF BUILDING MATERIALS, WELFARE, EMISSIONS, AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR HOUSEHOLDS REVIEW ARTICLE 1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/24150487/as29i2.6 ABSTRACT The introduction of the carbon tax by South Africa was primarily aimed at reducing pollution, and possibly improving the welfare of South African households. One of the ways of reducing pollution in the construction industry is to discourage the use of building materials that are high carbon emitters or have high energy intensities. This article used the Input-Output (IO) method and sensitivity analysis to study the efects of carbon tax on welfare distribution of South African households, using the 2014-2015 Living Conditions Survey (LCS). The study also set out to determine the relative sensitivity of price changes of some building materials after application of the 2019 carbon tax. Results showed that non- ferrous, ferrous, and prefabricated-based building materials had higher relative price sensitivities to carbon tax compared to other materials that were predominantly based on glass, cement, and treated metals. Increases in carbon tax may not discourage usage of relatively higher emissions-intensity 1 DECLARATION: The author(s) declared no potential conficts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Acta Structilia 2022 29(2): 150-189