PRETORIA - South Africa hopes to cut its carbon emissions 34 percent by 2020, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said on Tuesday.

Building coal-fired power stations would not affect this, as cutting emissions did not happen in an instant, but required space and time, she told reporters in Pretoria.

The rolling out of renewable sources of energy, including wind, was "well underway".

Cutting emissions would be achieved through "nationally appropriate mitigation actions" in the transport, agriculture and energy sectors.

"The extent to which this commitment is achieved depends on the provision of finance, technology and capacity building support by developed countries, and through the United Nations climate change regime," she said.

Molewa and International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane were briefing journalists about the upcoming climate change conference in Durban.

Nkoana-Mashabane said the country was ready to host the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's 17th Conference of Parties in Durban from November 28 to December 9.

"South Africa is very much on schedule, if not ahead. We are hoping for a balanced outcome, one that is fair, equitable and inclusive," she said of preparations for the conference.