South Africa’s donor-funded climate programme has spent just over a sixth of its allotted $11.6-billion, with a focus on expanding the power grid and preventing its coal-mining region slipping into decline as it shifts to renewables, two sources said. A donor and a South African official involved in the plan, neither of whom were willing to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said about $1.9-billion had been spent, half of it on policy-based loans to the government. Of the rest, about $488-million had gone towards electricity, a breakdown seen by Reuters showed. The remaining quarter was for projects to revive the coal belt province, Mpumalanga, a planned green hydrogen hub and skills training, among other things. Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and United States initially pledged $8.5-billion at COP26 climate talks in 2021. That figure – all but a fraction of it in the form of concessional loans – grew last year, as Denmark, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland joined the initiative. Owing to its complexity, the number of donors involved and South Africa’s internal politics, the climate programme has been moving more slowly than planned, and South Africa has told donors it will not meet its 2030 emissions-reduction targets.