S.Africa close to producing plan for Western climate aid despite hurdles

South African ministers will meet in the coming days to discuss an investment plan for billions of dollars pledged by rich nations for a transition to green energy, aiming to complete it before November’s COP27 climate summit, the environment minister said.
At talks in Glasgow last year, the European Union, Britain, France and Germany promised $8.5 billion to help the country kick start a shift from carbon-intensive coal to cleaner energy.
Talks are meant to conclude before the COP27 in Egypt starting Oct. 31. If successful, it will serve as a model for other emerging economies to wean themselves off coal.
But South Africa, one of the world’s most carbon-intensive economies, has yet to produce a plan to show donors, while the terms of the funds — four-fifths of which is in loans, not grants — haven’t been agreed.