THE head of South Africa’s troubled Eskom power monopoly said it was seeking a deal at the UN COP26 climate summit to borrow more than $30bn in concessional lending to help close its ageing coal plants and make the switch to renewables.
André de Ruyter, chief executive of the utility that generates nearly all the electricity in Africa’s most industrialised economy, said the proposed lending facility would be “multiyear, multi-lender, multi-tranche on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis”.
While he did not say who would provide the finance, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen confirmed on Thursday that the commission, the UK, US, France and Germany would sign a “just energy transition” partnership at COP26 to help South Africa phase out of coal.
The pact is the first of its kind where richer countries would provide financial and technical support for a developing world polluter to accelerate the
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