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A $15 Billion Trade for South Africa: Debt Relief for Climate

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  • National power utility needs funding to wean itself off coal
  • South Africa is the 12th-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases
A coal delivery truck passes the Komati coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

A coal delivery truck passes the Komati coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

 Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

Politicians and academics are turning their attention to a new trade pitch for South Africa: debt relief in exchange for progress toward global climate goals. 

The debt-for-climate concept, which was floated by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in April, has been picked up by South African Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo and the South African Communist Party, which is part of the country’s ruling coalition. The IMF plans to raise the idea at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November.