The European Union pledged to invest €11.5 billion ($13.3 billion) in South Africa to develop clean energy, transport infrastructure, and health care projects in the continent’s biggest economy.
Most of the investment aims to accelerate the country’s shift to “low-carbon, renewable energy” — away from coal-fired power stations that generate around 85% of the country’s electricity — through new power generation capacity, grid upgrades, and energy storage.
Pretoria’s efforts to lower carbon emissions have been hobbled in recent years by resistance within state power utility Eskom, which faces potentially radical restructuring as part of the energy transition.
Washington’s withdrawal this year from the Just Energy Transition Partnership initiative that aims to help a handful of emerging economies to transition to clean energy also hit South Africa’s clean energy plans.
Renewable energy overtook coal as the world’s primary source of electricity in the first half of 2025, according to new data from energy think tank Ember, which also said solar panel imports to Africa were up 60% year-on-year, with South Africa receiving the continent’s highest number of panels.