{"id":835542,"date":"2025-03-20T13:12:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T18:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/south-africa-indonesia-say-us-withdrawing-from-climate-finance-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T13:12:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T18:12:55","slug":"south-africa-indonesia-say-us-withdrawing-from-climate-finance-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/south-africa-indonesia-say-us-withdrawing-from-climate-finance-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa, Indonesia say US withdrawing from climate finance deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Africa generates most of its electricity through coal – Copyright Intuitive Machines, LLC\/AFP HANDOUT<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n

The United States has pulled out of a climate funding deal struck by rich nations to help their developing counterparts transition to clean energy, the programme\u2019s first beneficiary South Africa and Indonesia said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) are ambitious financing deals between a small group of wealthy countries and emerging economies to help them ditch planet-polluting coal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coal-rich but energy-starved South Africa was the first developing country to reach a deal on a JETP in 2021. Indonesia\u2019s partnership for more than $20 billion in financing to wean itself off coal was unveiled in late 2022.<\/p>\n

But the United States\u00a0has withdrawn from its multi-million-dollar deal with Pretoria under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, a unit in South Africa\u2019s presidency said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in the Presidency acknowledges the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South African government was formally informed of this decision by the US Embassy on 28 February 2025,\u201d the statement read, adding that Washington had cited executive orders by Trump in January and February.<\/p>\n

Indonesia\u2019s JETP Secretariat head Paul Butarbutar confirmed the US embassy in Jakarta informed him Tuesday of Washington\u2019s decision to withdraw.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorrect\u2026 it is part of the executive order,\u201d he told AFP when asked if the Trump administration had ordered the withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Butarbutar said the pledge of $21.6 billion from private and public donors remained unchanged, but expected the US withdrawal to impact transition studies and the issuance of grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy understanding\u2026 is the US will still collaborate with Indonesia for development of renewable energy and other forms of energy, as long as it is still in line with US interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The United States had pledged $56 million in grants to the South African initiative and an additional $1 billion in potential commercial investments.<\/p>\n

Introduced during the UN climate talks in Scotland in 2021, the\u00a0initiative\u2019s backers counted France, Germany, Britain, Canada and the European Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

South Africa alongside Senegal, Vietnam and Indonesia were named as the first recipients of the support.<\/p>\n

The US withdrawal leaves South Africa with $12.8 billion in pledges, Pretoria said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pretoria and Washington have been at odds over a range of policies, including a recent land ownership law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump, whose tycoon ally Elon Musk was born in South Africa, last month froze aid to the country over the law that he alleges, without evidence, would allow land to be seized from the white minority.<\/p>\n

The claims came in an executive order, which also noted foreign policy clashes between the United States and South Africa over the war in Gaza, particularly its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n

South Africa last week said it would\u00a0push on with the clean energy transition and would explore partnerships with the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur commitment to a just energy transition is not conditional on other sovereign powers,\u201d Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters on the sidelines of a Group of 20 leading economies meeting.<\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s most industrialised nation is one of the largest polluters in the world and generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"AFP\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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AFP
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa generates most of its electricity through coal – Copyright Intuitive Machines, LLC\/AFP HANDOUT The United States has pulled out of a climate funding deal struck by rich nations to help their developing counterparts transition to clean energy, the programme\u2019s first beneficiary South Africa and Indonesia said Thursday. The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":835543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2084,683],"tags":[14302,7070],"class_list":["post-835542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa","category-south","tag-africa","tag-south"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}