South Africa’s government signed loan agreements with French and German public development banks to support its efforts to shift from coal toward cleaner energy sources.
Agence Française de Développement and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau extended concessional loans of €300 million ($302 million) each to the South African government as part of an $8.5 billion climate finance deal it was offered by wealthy nations at the COP26 talks in Glasgow last year, the National Treasury said in a statement Wednesday.
The funds will “assist in addressing the challenge of financing the critical adaptation and mitigation programs and supporting a resilient, sustainable and inclusive growth,” said Ismail Momoniat, the Treasury’s acting director-general. The country still needs more funds to support its Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, he said. The plan is seen as a blueprint for other coal-dependent developing nations to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
