CIF’s Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) Investment Program marks its second anniversary since it was launched at COP26 with the selection of four countries - South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India - to be supported under the USD 2.2bn program. Since then, two additional countries have been selected in the form of North Macedonia and Dominican Republic.
The ACT Investment Program is the world’s first and largest multilateral program to facilitate coal transition in key emerging markets by tackling key challenges associated with policy and institutional reforms, governance, and coal asset infrastructure. It is driven using a programmatic approach that involves the development of country-led investment plans (IP) which is the outcome of a deeply consultative process involving key stakeholders at the country-level.
The six countries under the program are at different stages of implementation. While ACT IPs for South Africa and Indonesia have been approved by the CIF governing body totaling USD 1 billion in funding, the Philippines has recently concluded its IP process and North Macedonia is at advanced stages of its development. In the meantime, the ACT Investment Program has gone on to become a central, catalytic component in the first-of-their kind and multi-billion dollar Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) in South Africa and Indonesia.
The session seeks to share lessons learnt from the journey so far - from ambition setting to role of consultative engagement with local stakeholders, the importance of ensuring a just and inclusive transition, coal asset level considerations, underlying challenges, and the road ahead. It will bring together experiences from the program perspective, multilateral engagement and most importantly, country insights from those at the forefront of these issues, particularly in the Philippines and North Macedonia.