India To Receive Big Aid In Coal Transition Programme

The Climate Invetment Funds (CIF) on Tuesday said that India will join Indonesia and Philippines, along with South Africa as the first receivers of a multibillion dollar pilot program. The program will be aimed at accelerating the transition to clean energy.

India, along with the other three countries together account for 15% of global coal emissions. Cutting the emissions will quicken the global effort to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a key aim of the ongoing United Nations COP26 summit in Glasgow.

Arifin Tasrif, Indonesian Energy Minister said that his country was committed to the cause. He said, "Climate change is a global challenge that needs to be addressed by all parties through leading by example".

The CIF said the Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) programme was the first to target developing countries like India who lacked the resources to shift away from coal.

South Africa, which would be the first beneficiary, announced it on Tuesday.

The CIF was created in 2008 by the leading economies in the world to help poorer countries speed up the shift to cleaner energy sources. Its CEO, Mafalda Duarte said, "Coal is a high-emitting power source at odds with a climate-smart future. Markets are starting to trend in the right direction, but the transition is not happening fast enough to respond to the urgency of the climate crisis."

The CIF also said that the programme was being endorsed by the Group of Seven advanced economies and is supported by financial pledges from United States, Britain, Germany, Canada and Denmark.

The project will work together with six multilateral development banks. Low income loans and technical assistance will be provided to coal-transitioning countries like India. It will invest in projects ranging from bolstering countries' domestic capacity to manage energy transitions to repurposing or decommissioning coal assets and creating economic opportunities.

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