The SA-H2 fund is seeded by an initial $250m from Invest International, and aims to capitalise on South Africa's wind and solar resources to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis.

A new fund to promote the financing of green hydrogen initiatives in South Africa was announced in Pretoria on Tuesday as part of a joint effort between the Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa.

The fund aims to capitalise on South Africa's abundance of wind and solar resources, and its significant industrial capacity. With green hydrogen earmarked to replace natural gas, it plays a key role in plans to transition away from coal towards more sustainable sources of energy.

The $1-billion fund, dubbed SA-H2, was seeded by an initial $250-million from Invest International of the Netherlands, with the remainder of the money to be raised over the next two years.

Supported by multiple institutions, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Industrial Development Corporation and Sanlam, it will be managed by The Hague-based Climate Fund Managers.

The announcement was attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, all of whom made commitments to knowledge sharing and highlighted the importance of mitigating the impacts of climate change as part of a just transition, a commitment which has been softened in South Africa by the load shedding crisis.

"Our country faces severe electricity challenges," said...