- In a landmark move for corporate South Africa, Nedbank Group Limited has become one of the first major businesses to offset its carbon emissions by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from Growthpoint Properties Limited.
- This pioneering initiative provides a scalable solution for tenants to tackle the historically challenging issue of electricity emissions in leased buildings.
The agreement will see Nedbank offset its Scope 2 emissions—those stemming from purchased electricity—across 26 of its branches. These branches, located in Growthpoint-owned shopping malls and offices, span five provinces and over 8,200 square metres of retail space, including prominent locations from La Lucia Mall in KwaZulu-Natal to The Constantia Village in the Western Cape.
For businesses in multi-tenanted buildings, reducing Scope 2 emissions has been a significant hurdle, as tenants can manage their consumption but cannot control the source of the coal-heavy grid electricity. Growthpoint’s REC initiative directly addresses this gap by certifying the clean solar power generated at its properties and offering the verified certificates to tenants, providing an auditable method for emission reduction.
Nedbank has hailed the solution as a major advancement in its sustainability journey. Charl de Kock, Nedbank Executive Head of Group Business Services, stated that the partnership gives the bank an immediate, credible way to reduce its Scope 2 emissions where generating or wheeling renewable power directly is too complex. He also highlighted Nedbank’s established climate credentials, noting the bank has been carbon-neutral since 2010 and recently achieved a 30% energy reduction target two years ahead of schedule.
The initiative is underpinned by Growthpoint’s substantial investment in renewable energy, which includes one of the country’s largest fleets of small-scale embedded generators, with 80 rooftop solar systems providing 61.2MWp of capacity. Nearly half of these solar plants are already registered on the international I-REC registry in partnership with Fuel Switch, Africa’s first blockchain-enabled REC exchange, ensuring transparency and verification.
Werner van Antwerpen, Growthpoint Head of Corporate Advisory, called Nedbank’s adoption a “pivotal shift” for carbon reporting in South Africa. “Transparent carbon emission offsets are urgently needed, particularly for businesses in leased spaces, as they cannot tackle the challenge alone,” he said.
The collaboration between the two companies, both leaders in South Africa’s green building movement, is expected to set a new benchmark for corporate decarbonisation. By validating this model, Nedbank and Growthpoint are not only advancing their own climate ambitions but also creating a pathway for businesses of all sizes to achieve credible Scope 2 emission offsets, thereby stimulating the local green economy.
