Africa-Press – South-Africa. The estimated scale of the investment plan of the Just Energy Trust Partnership (JetP) is over R1 trillion in five years, the head of the Presidential Climate Finance Team, Daniel Mminele, said on Saturday.
Mminele addressed the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s Inclusive Growth Forum in the Drakensberg.
The first phase of the JetP – a partnership between SA and the governments of the UK, US, Germany, France and the EU – is $8.5 billion (~R157 billion) of blended finance that was endorsed at the COP26 conference on climate change last November. The investment plan, formulated by SA, will be unveiled at COP27 next month.
The JetP is the first global partnership between the developed world and emerging economies to assist in funding decarbonisation. Mminele said that while “certain elements of the funding” were still under discussion, initial funding had been secured for what would be catalytic JetP projects.
“While the initial amount of US$8.5 billion for the relevant period is far less than the scale of need, the contribution from our international partners has the potential to leverage a much greater level of resources from both private and public sources. There is a strong focus already on sourcing additional funds from other interested countries, development finance institutions, multilateral development banks, philanthropic capital, and the broader private sector,” said Mminele.
He said the focus now was to leverage additional funding as well as to succeed in the implementation of the first phase:
The investment plan, which has not yet been made publicly available, includes projects in three sectors and two cross-cutting areas. These include the transition to cleaner energy in the electricity sector, the development of an electric vehicle manufacturing industry, and the development of a green hydrogen sector in SA. Linked to all of these is a “just” element in which mining and power station communities, industries, and communities built around the auto manufacturing sector are not “left behind” and are assisted with developmental and employment opportunities.
The cross-cutting areas include a skills development programme and assistance for municipalities in electricity infrastructure and capacity building.
In sequencing the investments, the first and urgent priority will be strengthening the grid, accelerating renewable energy investments, and preparing communities and local government for the phasing down effects of decarbonisation, such as mine and plant closures, said Mminele.
The JetP investment plan was approved by the Cabinet last week, which has committed to providing a detailed briefing on the plan in the weeks ahead.
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