South Africa has been selected alongside six other developing countries to participate in a new $1-billion global investment programme that will provide concessional finance for projects that reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

The other countries selected to participate in the scheme launched by the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds (CIF) are Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Namibia, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan.

All seven countries were selected from a pool of 26 applicants after demonstrating “strong private sector engagement, institutional readiness, and a clear commitment to industrial decarbonisation”.

In a statement, CIF said the countries would collaborate with multilateral development banks and private sector partners to develop investment plans, which would be submitted to its governing board for endorsement.

“They will then gain access to highly concessional funding to scale-up clean and circular technologies – such as green hydrogen, waste-heat recovery, and low-carbon materials like steel, aluminium, and cement – that are critical to the global energy transition.”

The 'Industry Decarbonisation’ programme, which forms part of CIF’s $9-billion Clean Technology Fund (CTF), allows up to 100% of financing to be directed towards private sector-led projects or those attracting significant private co-investments, with a mandatory minimum allocation of 50%.

Up to $12 in cofinancing is expected to be generated from each $1 of CTF funding and the CIF said the aim was to position industry in developing countries for long-term competitiveness, as well as to take advantage of a global market for green industrial goods that is projected to reach $2-trillion by 2030.

CIF CEO Tariye Gbadegesin said the global race to decarbonise industry had begun, and that emerging markets were “out front”.

“Decarbonising Industry is about more than emissions - it’s about securing long-term prosperity and the jobs of tomorrow. And it’s about producing the low-carbon industrial inputs that are urgently needed to expand renewable energy capacity and power the global economy,” she added.

The African Development Bank would partner with CIF on the initiative and its director for climate change and green growth, Anthony Nyong, argued that it presented a transformative opportunity for Egypt, Namibia, and South Africa “to leapfrog towards a zero-emission, climate-resilient future”.