South Africa and Indonesia will get a combined $1 billion from the Climate Investment Fund to upgrade some of their coal-fired power plants with renewable energy facilities, as a component of global efforts to global warming emissions.
The allocation of $500 million each to coal-dependent countries will take the form of “concessional” or cheap financing, the World Bank-affiliated fund said on Thursday. Cash will come from CIF’s Accelerating the Coal Transition investment program.
In South Africa, it will be used to shut down coal-fired power plants and upgrade them with renewable energy plants and battery garage systems, he said.
In Indonesia, CIF will work with state-owned power provider PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara and private companies to push for the closure of 2,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation within five to 10 years and explore how that capacity can be replaced.
South Africa is the world’s largest manufacturer of greenhouse gases and accounts for 45% of its 452 million tonnes of annual emissions from electricity generation. Indonesia is the tenth largest emitter.
Almost all of South Africa’s strength is generated from coal through the long-suffering corporate force Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and the country suffers from normal blackouts.
“Over the next 8 years, South Africa wants a $60 billion investment to transition” away from coal, said Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s environment minister.
In South Africa alone, closures funded through the deal will save it the emission of 71 million tons of Array carbon dioxide to take 14 million gasoline cars off the road for a year, CIF said.
The cash is part of a $2. 6 billion package mobilized from public and personal resources through the government to pay for the blank energy transition, he added.
South Africa is also negotiating $8. 5 billion in climate finance a deal with the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the European Union known as the Just Energy Transition Partnership.
(By Antony Sguazzin)