South Africa wants major financial support to shift from coal power.

As the climate envoys from United Kingdom,Germany, America and France visited South Africa, it told the climate envoys that major financial support is needed for the country to shift from the use of coal power, to a sustainable source. They needed an agreement that was irrevocable at the COP26 climate summit, the environmental department said, on Wednesday.

South Africa is Africa’s biggest polluter and 12th largest carbon emitter on the globe. It emitted Mt CO2e equivalent to 479 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019 according to the records of Global Carbon Atlas. The government adopted several policies and measures this month, to reduce its carbon footprint significantly by the year 2030.

For the swift transition of power consumption from coal to renewable energy, South Africa hopes to get financial aids from the rich countries all around the world. More than 805 of the country’s energy is produced by burning coal.

The environmental department mentioned the need of investment in grid infrastructure of low-carbon power generation, electric vehicle production and repurposing coal plants that were soon to be retired, to the Western envoys. The ministers of environment, trade and public enterprises of South Africa, told the envoys that the financial support should include grant funding with consideration about the current constraints of the country.