The United States has withdrawn from the the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a collaboration between richer nations to assist developing countries transition from coal to cleaner energy, according to Reuters.
Launched at the 2021 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, JETP, comprises of 10 donor countries. South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal were subsequently announced as the first beneficiaries of loans, financial guarantees and grants to help them move away from coal, reported Reuters.
Joanne Yawitch, head of the Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in South Africa, said on March 5 that the United States had communicated its withdrawal from the plan there.
In Vietnam, two foreign officials with direct knowledge of the matter said Washington was withdrawing from JETP in the country, and one of them said the US was also exiting from all JETP programmes, including in Indonesia.
Another source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US had withdrawn from the JETP in Indonesia and South Africa.
"We have been informed by the US of their withdrawal," another South Africa-based source in the donor group told Reuters.
"There remains significant finance available, and the International Partners Group remains fully committed to supporting South Africa to deliver on its just energy transition through the partnership," the person added.
Tapping Coal Reserves
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the US has slashed foreign aid and advocated development of fossil fuels by issuing executive orders.
This shift could lead to repeal of some of President Joe Biden’s power plant pollution regulations and a halt to certain policies that support renewable energy. Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the implications for climate change-electricity generation accounts for one-quarter of US carbon emissions, reported Associated Press.
The US has some of the largest coal reserves in the world-which can easily last about 422 years at current mining rates, as per the data by Energy Information Administration.
(With inputs from PTI.)
