Members in the network range from CBOs fighting for their rights to a healthy environment to research institutions and implementers of development projects. The network aims to:

• coordinate information exchange on national, regional, and international climate policies and issues amongst civil society organisations and with other interested institutions;
• formulate national, regional, and international policy options and position papers on climate-related issues;
• undertake further collaborative action to promote effective NGO involvement in efforts to avert the threat of global warning; and
• initiate civil society capacity building and public awareness raising to promote government and individual action, to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels and develop capacity to adapt to climate change.

The Network aims to achieve this through the following activities.

• Advocacy - the core of SACAN's activities. The network approaches this in a number of ways. SACAN seeks to maintain a positive interaction with the South African government on climate change issues both directly and through the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC). SACAN has been represented on the NCCC since 2000, and members have volunteered to participate in working groups on greenhouse gas emissions, technology transfer, and capacity building. According to SACAN, network members actively engage with policy issues and have made various contributions to policy documents. SACAN also supports promotion of the Kyoto Protocol in South Africa, emphasising the sustainable development opportunities that this can present. SACAN and its members provide materials on climate change issues from research to briefing documents, fliers, and posters, with the aim of creating awareness and stimulating debate on climate change issues in South Africa.
• Position papers - SACAN has adopted a number of positions on climate change issues both informally through meeting resolutions and in the form of position papers. These position papers aim to highlight issues of concern and clarify the network's standpoint. Position papers are developed in consultation with all members, and rely on full consensus for adoption.
• Publications - SACAN produces information leaflets and materials on various aspects of climate change. Climate Action News is a quarterly newsletter with articles on current issues and member news.
• SACAN website - an information portal sharing details about current activities and housing background information on climate change issues.
• Capacity building and awareness raising - workshops and presentations to the public and for network members, as well as engaging with the media.

According to SACAN, the network has many international links in both North and South. SACAN is a national node of the Climate Action Network (CAN) international, a worldwide network of over 365 NGOs. SACAN also recently helped to establish the Southern African Regional Climate Action Network (SARCAN) and is currently serving as the regional node. SACAN members engage actively on several international email list-serves such as "CAN-Talk", which is where the main body of interaction within CAN international takes place. Members also interact on various issue-specific lists including gender and climate change, adaptation, and technology transfer.

Climate Change, Environment.

Climate change, or "anthropogenic climate change", refers to the way the weather is changing due to human activities such as burning fossil fuels and chopping down trees. These activities contribute to global warming as a result of the greenhouse effect, whereby gasses in the earth's atmosphere trap heat around the earth, somewhat like the glass of a greenhouse. According to the SACAN website, human activities have increased the concentration in the atmosphere of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide and methane, changing the planet's climate in a number of ways and leading to global warming. The network serves to help raise awareness about this issue and promote activities to limit the human impact on climate change.