As part of a response to these concerns, in May 2026 the City of Johannesburg and the German state-owned development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) announced an agreement on a R3.8 billion (over US$230 million) concessional loan to help fix the city’s electricity utility, City Power.
The emboldened “coal at all costs” narrative has resurfaced to once again conflate the complex issues of energy, climate change and development, and broad narratives that informs the just energy transition and broader energy sector reforms in South Africa.
This was loud and clear at the recently held Coal & Energy Transition Day in Johannesburg
The world is changing and external and internal pressures and opportunities to realise an energy transition are mounting. Numerous factors influence this new tempo and bandwidth but primarily it is the ensuing geopolitical crisis and the global energy outlook, and domestically, the resolution of the load shedding crisis that was part of our lives in the recent years.
Historically, South Africa’s energy sector has been dominated by coal with Eskom as the main broker retaining a monopoly over the sector.
