Spain to invest $2bn in SA energy transition

SPAIN is providing 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to help fund South Africa’s energy transition and water needs, even as some of the world’s richest nations struggle to push forward on a ground-breaking climate-finance initiative with the continent’s most-industrialised country.

The Spanish funding is being provided through a mixture of financial instruments, with the country’s government working with its development finance institution, Cofides, and South Africa’s Industrial Development Corp., said Ambassador Raimundo Robredo Rubio.

While not part of it, the Spanish initiative is in line with the aims of the $8.5-billion Just Energy Transition Partnership between South Africa and funding partners including France, Germany, the US, UK and the European Union. That program has been hailed as a pioneering example of how rich nations can help wean developing nations off their dependence on coal.

“This is the first time in history we have done something like this,” Robredo said in