South Africa wants to spend billions of dollars fostering an electric vehicle industry, complicating efforts to finalize an $8.5 billion climate aid package before next month’s United Nations climate summit.
The landmark funding plan unveiled at last year’s climate conference in Glasgow was meant to help South Africa wean itself off coal. It was hailed at the time as a prototype for other developing countries transitioning to cleaner energy, but talks are now mired in disagreements over how the money should be used.
The U.S., U.K., Germany, France and the EU, which are providing the funds, want them almost entirely invested in replacing the country’s coal-fired power plants with renewable energy.