US Withdrawing From Plan to Help Major Polluters Move From Coal, Sources Say

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JETP formed to aid transition from coal
South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal first beneficiaries
US informs South Africa of decision to withdraw

March 5 (Reuters) – The United States is withdrawing from the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a collaboration between richer nations to help developing countries transition from coal to cleaner energy, several sources in key participating countries said.

JETP, which consists of 10 donor nations, was first unveiled at the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021.

South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal were subsequently announced as the first beneficiaries of loans, financial guarantees and grants to move away from coal.

Joanne Yawitch, head of the Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in South Africa, said on Wednesday 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 U.S. was also exiting from all JETP programmes, including in Indonesia.

Another source familiar with the matter said the U.S. had withdrawn from the JETP in Indonesia and South Africa.

“We have been informed by the U.S. of their withdrawal,” said another South Africa-based source in the donor group.

“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 said.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, Washington has slashed foreign aid and championed development of fossil fuels.

The U.S. state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak on the matter.

U.S. commitments for Indonesia and Vietnam exceeded $3 billion in total, mostly through commercial loans, while in South Africa the commitment was for $1.063 billion out of $11.6 billion pledged for the country.

Reporting by Tim Cocks in Johannesburg, Francesco Guarascio in Hanoi, and Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta Writing by Sudarshan Varadhan Editing by Tony Munroe and Sharon Singleton