John Morton, who serves as the Treasury Department‘s first-ever climate counselor, on Wednesday expressed optimism that wealthy nations could replicate an $8.5 billion deal aimed at helping South Africa transition away from coal.
The South Africa climate finance deal, which was announced at the United Nations climate summit in Scotland last year, could serve as a model for spurring the clean energy transition in Indonesia, Vietnam, India and other coal-dependent nations, Morton said during a virtual event hosted by the nonprofit Center for Global Development.
“I’m very optimistic about the notion of committing large amounts of capital to incentivize expedited energy transitions in high-emitting countries,” Morton said, adding that Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen has had “very constructive” conversations with Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani.
