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It was on the back of this polluting legacy that South Africa made lavish demands at the 2021 Conference of the Parties (COP) to combat climate change. The EU, Canada, Germany, the UK, and France promised to provide South Africa with $8.5bn in concessional finance. In return, South Africa pledged to shift its energy matrix toward renewable energy sources. Key to South Africa’s pledges was the decommissioning of 9 of its coal power plants by 2035.

As the United States continues to shut down coal producers in the hope of reducing carbon emissions, overall coal demand reached an...