During the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow this week, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union have committed $8.5bn (£6.2bn) to help end South Africa’s reliance on coal.
South Africa has become an undisputed renewable energy leader in Africa, but continues to heavily depend on burning coal to generate electricity. Coal still represents about 90% of the country’s energy mix, the highest share amongst G20 nations.
Dubbed the “Just Energy Transition Partnership”, the initiative is expected to prevent up to 1.5 gigatonnes of emissions over the next 20 years.
In a joint statement, the parties declared that the partnership would initially mobilise several financing mechanisms over a five-year period. These would include grants, concessional loans and investments and risk sharing instruments, including private sector funding.
France has notably set its contribution at $1 bn. On its side, Germany mentioned a support for green hydrogen with a contribution of $700m from its development aid funds.