The approval of the updated plan by the Climate Investment Funds , which was stalled after South Africa last year asked to delay the closure of three coal-fired power plants to ease an energy crisis, will see the CIF disburse 500-million to the country.
That clears the path for as much as 2.1-billion from multilateral lenders including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, plus other sources.
"CIF's Clean Technology Fund Trust Fund Committee approved an update to South Africa's Accelerating Coal Transition investment plan" on 11 June, the fund said in a response to queries.
Under the plan, it said South Africa can now put forward detailed costing for projects it had outlined and then get approval for their funding from the trust. It referred additional questions on financing to the South African government, which confirmed that the plans are still in place.
The financing will play an important role in South Africa's energy transition. The country relies on coal for about 80 of its electricity generation and has the most carbon-intensive economy of any country in the G20.