South Africa seeks to make climate finance deal global benchmark

South Africa’s planned $8.5-billion climate finance deal with some of the world’s richest nations could serve as a blueprint for other coal-dependent countries, the head of its negotiating team said. The potential funding, which will be made available over three to five years, was announced at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November. Under the arrangement, the US, UK, Germany, France and European Union plan to provide finance to help the country cut its use of coal, which is used to generate more than 80% of its electricity.