What Us Retreat Means For South Africa's Energy Transition

The US decision to exit from a leading role in Just Energy Transition Partnerships for South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam will complicate financing efforts, but won't halt the overall objectives of the deals, BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a research note.

"Although we expect the loss of US funding in the JETP partnerships to be disruptive and potentially add further delays to these programmes, we see other international partners stepping up to fill the void," BMI analysts wrote in the note on Tuesday. China could be among nations to replace US leadership and financing.

The US, which had pledged to contribute more than 4-billion according to investment plans drafted for the JETPs, has quit the programmes amid US President Donald Trump's wider retreat from climate action. It's a move that has raised questions about the future of the programmes, which had been viewed as a test case of how to bring together public and private finance to help large developing nations move way from fossil fuels.