The United States has pulled out of a climate funding deal struck by rich nations to help their developing counterparts transition to clean energy, the programme's first beneficiary South Africa and Indonesia said Thursday.

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) are ambitious financing deals between a small group of wealthy countries and emerging economies to help them ditch planet-polluting coal. 

Coal-rich but energy-starved South Africa was the first developing country to reach a deal on a JETP in 2021. Indonesia's partnership for more than $20 billion in financing to wean itself off coal was unveiled in late 2022.

But the United States has withdrawn from its multi-million-dollar deal with Pretoria under President Donald Trump's administration, a unit in South Africa's presidency said in a statement. 

"The Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in the Presidency acknowledges the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa," it said.

"The South African government was formally informed of this decision by the US Embassy on 28 February2025," the statement read, adding that Washington had cited executive orders by Trump in January and February.

Indonesia's JETP Secretariat head Paul Butarbutar confirmed the US embassy in Jakarta informed him Tuesday of Washington's decision to withdraw.

"Correct... it is part of the executive order," he told AFP when asked if the Trump administration had ordered the withdrawal.

Butarbutar said the pledge of $21.6 billion from private and public donors remained unchanged, but expected the US withdrawal to impact transition studies and the issuance of grants.

"My understanding... is the US will still collaborate with Indonesia for development of renewable energy and other forms of energy, as long as it is still in line with US interests," he said.

The United States had pledged $56 million in grants to the South African initiative and an additional $1 billion in potential commercial investments.

Introduced during the UN climate talks in Scotland in 2021, the initiative's backers counted France, Germany, Britain, Canada and the European Union. 

South Africa alongside Senegal, Vietnam and Indonesia were named as the first recipients of the support.

The US withdrawal leaves South Africa with $12.8 billion in pledges, Pretoria said. 

Pretoria and Washington have been at odds over a range of policies, including a recent land ownership law. 

Trump, whose tycoon ally Elon Musk was born in South Africa, last month froze aid to the country over the law that he alleges, without evidence, would allow land to be seized from the white minority.

The claims came in an executive order, which also noted foreign policy clashes between the United States and South Africa over the war in Gaza, particularly its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

South Africa last week said it would push on with the clean energy transition and would explore partnerships with the private sector.

"Our commitment to a just energy transition is not conditional on other sovereign powers," Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters on the sidelines of a Group of 20 leading economies meeting.

Africa's most industrialised nation is one of the largest polluters in the world and generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal.

Updates throughout, details on funding

The US has withdrawn from the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with South Africa under which it pledged $1.56 billion for the country's decarbonisation.

The US' pledges to South Africa's JET investment plan comprised $56mn in grant funds and $1bn in potential commercial investments by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). No concessional loans were offered by the US to South Africa.

The move follows US president Donald Trump's executive order in January to pull out of the landmark Paris climate agreement and other global climate pacts.

The South African government was notified of the decision by the US Embassy on 28 February.

The US' withdrawal from the JETP reduces the current overall international JET pledges to South Africa to $12.8bn from $13.8bn, said the JET project management unit (PMU) located in the presidency.

These pledges represented a fraction of the 1.5 trillion rand ($84bn) that South Africa in its 2022 investment plan said it needed over a five-year period to implement a just energy transition.

"South Africa remains steadfast in its commitment to achieving a just and equitable energy transition," said JET PMU head, Joanne Yawitch. All other JETP partners remain firmly committed to supporting South Africa's transition, she said.

Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark, have confirmed they were still part of the partnership and will continue to provide support. But South Africa's international relations and cooperation department noted that "grant projects that were previously funded and in planning or implementation phases have been cancelled."

Meanwhile, the JET PMU said it was "actively engaging with other grant-making organisations to source alternative funding for JET projects previously designated for support from the US grant funding."

The UK, France, Germany, the US and EU in 2021 pledged $8.5bn under the JETP to support South Africa's transition to a low-carbon economy and, specifically, to accelerate its phase-out of coal-fired power. Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain subsequently joined the partnership.

The US has withdrawn from the International Partners Group, an international alliance that includes UK, the EU, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Norway.

This decision will affect other countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, which had previously agreed their own JETP with IPG partners including the US.

Indonesia climate envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo earlier this year criticised the JETP process, saying it had "failed" and alleging that "not a single dollar has been disbursed by the US government".

At present, South Africa lacks investible non-coal energy projects, risking fund disbursal from partner countries. South Africa's grid remains heavily reliant on coal-fired power and so far the country has not developed any substantial non-coal generation capacity, while at the same time it has extended the life of coal-fired plants that were previously due to be retired.

Eskom's decision to delay the decommissioning of the Camden, Grootvlei and Hendrina coal-fired power plants from 2027 to 2030 required the investment plan for an accelerated coal phase-out to be updated.

By Ashima Sharma and Elaine Mills

KYIV, March 8 (Reuters) - Ukraine still maintains steel production growth in the first two months of 2025 despite the loss of the sector's key coking coal mine in Pokrovsk in the eastern part of the country, data from the Ukrainian steel producers' union showed on Saturday.

Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest has suspended operations at Ukraine's only coking coal mine, citing a deteriorating security situation as Russian forces advanced.

The raw steel output rose by 9.9% in January-February 2025 to 1.18 million metric tons, the data showed.

Steel production has suffered since Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022, which has led to the destruction of leading steel plants.

Ukraine, formerly a major steel producer and exporter, reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million tons. It fell to 6 million tons in 2023 but increased to 7.58 million in 2024.

The steelmakers' union said in October the potential closure of the Pokrovsk mine could cause steel output to slump to 2-3 million metric tons in 2025.

Producers have said they hope to find coking coal, an ingredient in steel production, from elsewhere in Ukraine should the mine be seized by Russian troops, but imports would be needed, raising costs.

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Pemerintah resmi menetapkan harga batu bara acuan (HBA) sebagai standar ekspor. Hal ini pun memicu kekhawatiran turunnya minat terhadap batu bara Indonesia karena harga yang lebih mahal.

Meski begitu, Dirjen Minerba ESDM Ing HBA menuturkan HBA sendiri mengambil real transaction dari data PNBP. Nilai HBA juga disebut memiliki rentang yang lebar dan saat harga di global mengalami fluktuasi signifikan, maka akan tercermin di HBA. Dengan demikian, pelaku usaha diminta tidak perlu khawatir mengenai harga yang tidak kompetitif karena HBA.

Direktur Bayan Resources Alexander Ery Wibowo mengatakan ada beberapa spek batu bara yang formulasinya agak berbeda dan hal ini berpengaruh pada buyers. Seperti apa?

Selengkapnya saksikan dialog Safrina Nasution bersama Dirjen Minerba ESDM Ing Triwinarno dan Direktur Bayan Resources Alexander Ery Wibowo di Program Closing Bell CNBC Indonesia, Kamis (06/03/2025).

Catatan: Video dapat dilihat dengan klik link di bawah ini. 

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Direktur Bayan Resources Alexander Ery Wibowo mengungkapkan sejumlah tantangan yang akan dihadapi industri batu bara di 2025. Namun menurut Ery, selama ada dukungan dari pemerintah, maka akan lebih cepat menanggapi perubahan yang terjadi beberapa waktu belakangan.

Sementara Dirjen Minerba ESDM Ing Triwinarno mengatakan penerapan HBA bertujuan untuk tidak merugikan dunia usaha. Pasalnya, HBA ini bisa mencegah persaingan tidak sehat antar operator batu bara.

Selengkapnya saksikan dialog Safrina Nasution bersama Dirjen Minerba ESDM Ing Triwinarno dan Direktur Bayan Resources Alexander Ery Wibowo di Program Closing Bell CNBC Indonesia, Kamis (06/03/2025).

Catatan: Video dapat dilihat dengan klik link dibawah ini.