Citigroup Inc. C -2.51% and its partners abandoned the creation of a fund that aimed to shorten the life of coal mines after the group struggled to convince investors of the plan’s green-energy merits, according to people familiar with the matter.
The bank teamed up with commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. and Resource Capital Funds, a private-equity firm, to pitch an investment vehicle earlier this year known as Coal to Zero.
The fund planned to buy mines in the U.S., Australia and South Africa and run them with the promise of shutting them down by 2040, according to people familiar with the matter and a marketing document seen by The Wall Street Journal.
The fund was trying to solve a thorny problem in the green-energy world. Some energy and mining companies have divested coal assets under the pretense of cutting carbon emissions or appeasing shareholders, only to sell them on to owners happy to run them indefinitely.
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