South Africa needs $14bn for green hydrogen plan: Climate finance chief

RIYADH: South Africa will need to attract investments of $14 billion for its green hydrogen plan to succeed, Bloomberg reported citing the head of the government’s climate finance task team.

At least $1 billion would be needed to create an industry that could export 20,000 tons of climate friendly fuel annually, Daniel Mminele said in a speech this week.

An additional $13 billion will be required to hit the 270,000 ton target, he said.

Mminele, a former central banker, was appointed this year to negotiate details of an offer of $8.5 billion in climate finance from some of the world’s richest nations to help South Africa cut its reliance on coal. 

Some of that money would need to go toward developing green hydrogen and electric-vehicle industries in South Africa, he told a think-tank.

On a separate note, Saudi Arabia will discuss closer cooperation in the mining industry with South Africa, as agreed at a meeting of the Kingdom’s Cabinet last February, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

This comes as a step to diversify the Kingdom’s economy away from oil.

In this context, Saudi state-owned mining company Ma’aden announced the opening of a new regional office in South Africa on its Twitter account, on May 12. 

“From Africa, Saudi culture shines with its deep-rooted history,” Ma’aden said.