· To support South Africa’s efforts to cut down its reliance on coal, and facilitate the country’s transition to cleaner energy sources, France and Germany have agreed to provide €300 million each in concessional financing to South Africa.
To support South Africa’s efforts to cut down its reliance on coal, and facilitate the country’s transition to cleaner energy sources, France and Germany have agreed to provide €300 million each in concessional financing to South Africa. A statement, issued by the National Treasury said that the French and German public development banks, AFD and KfW, have provided the loans directly to the South African government via National Treasury. The objective of the concessional finance agreement is to facilitate South Africa’s journey to a low-carbon and climate-resilient society.
South Africa depends heavily on coal to produce most of its electricity. Coal Sector plays a key role in the country’s national economy and the livelihood of its communities. Last year French President Emmanuel Macron had pledged the support of France for South Africa’s ambitious decarbonisation project for a just energy transition.
The announcement of the Concessional loans was welcomed by leaders of the three countries -President Cyril Ramaphosa, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Olaf Scholz, the Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany during the ongoing 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt.
Also read;
South Africa to get US$ 497 million for implementing green energy projects
Green industrialisation – key to development in the Southern African region-UNECA
The loan agreement is regarded as a major milestone in the implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between South Africa, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union announced at COP26 in November last year. The founding partners of the JETP had also pledged last year to mobilise an amount of $8.5 billion over the next three to five years to advance the partnership.
