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South Africa becomes poster boy for South Africa, India, Indonesia,
just transition in developing world and the Philippines to receive
$2.5bn to phase out coal
SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa, India, Indonesia, and the the coal transition: governance, people and com-
Philippines are to receive up to $2.5bn of cli- munities, and infrastructure.
mate financing from the World Bank’s Climate This includes efforts to enhance in-country
Investment Funds (CIF) in a bid to advance a capacity to manage energy transitions, repur-
just transition from coal power to clean energy pose or decommission coal assets, and cre-
in emerging economies. ate sustainable economic opportunities and
The new Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) social protection programs for coal-dependent
investment programme aims to reduce coal’s communities.
influence in the four countries, which together ACT will work through CIF’s six multilateral
account for over 15% of coal-related emissions development bank partners to offer coal-transi-
globally. tioning countries an end-to-end financial toolkit
The financing, launched at COP26, will pro- combining significant concessional financing
vide a specific fund-raising facility for devel- with technical assistance. Such investments
oping countries, mirroring existing funding will aim to raise national and global ambition
vehicles that already exist in industrialised by piloting effective strategies for phasing out
countries. coal that ignite change through a demonstration
“Markets are starting to trend in the right effect.
direction, but the transition is not happening “As a leading donor of the Climate Investment
fast enough to respond to the urgency of the cli- Funds, I am delighted that the UK is among the
mate crisis. This is especially true in developing first to pledge funding to its new Accelerating
countries, where the steep political, social, and Coal Transitions programme. This will support
economic barriers remain. Overcoming these South Africa, India, Indonesia, and the Philip-
obstacles is what ACT is all about,” said CIF CEO pines to tap into the economic opportunities
Mafalda Duarte. that come with moving to renewable energy,”
The countries were selected on advice from said UK Minister for Clean Growth, Energy and
an independent panel of experts, who assessed Climate Change Greg Hands.
country candidates based on potential for trans- Minister of Forestry and Fisheries and Envi-
formational change and private sector mobiliza- ronmental Affairs of South Africa, Barbara
tion, among other metrics. Creecy: “South Africa has taken a bold step in
The ACT aims in future to support more adopting ambitious mitigation targets, and is
countries and, the World Bank said it had looking forward to a bold outcome from COP 26
experienced strong demand from developing with regards to providing the necessary support
countries. The ACT is endorsed by the G7 and to developing countries for the implementation
is supported by financial pledges from the US, of their NDCs. As a country heavily reliant on
UK, Germany, Canada, and Denmark. coal for electricity generation, we need to ensure
The ACT will invest to de-risk, pilot, and scale that the transition towards a low carbon future
investments across three critical dimensions of is a just one.”
Week 44 04•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
