Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan are reportedly about to finance a 1,443-kilometer crude oil pipeline through Uganda and Tanzania. If built, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) would be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world. Extinction Rebellion SA condemns the pipeline project and will take … [Read more...]
Central banks are waking up to climate change dangers
The impact of climate change on the stability of individual financial institutions and the financial system in general is growing. It influences the types of activities that financial institutions will fund and the cost of finance. For example, the increased frequency and intensity of floods, storms and droughts is complicating the insurance industry’s ability to assess … [Read more...]
Absa puts climate change on the agenda
Absa will become SA's first bank to voluntarily develop a comprehensive policy on climate change. This follows the historic tabling of a climate-change risk resolution at Standard Bank's AGM last week and is another sign the issue is likely going to dominate agendas in company boardrooms in the future. “We are very concerned about the reality of climate change, its dire … [Read more...]
Bank climate activists shop for transparency
An important article published in the UK Guardian newspaper last week highlights the need to act now against the “human and financial costs of climate change." “Climate change is a global problem, which requires global solutions, in which the whole financial sector has a central role to play,” the authors wrote. Shareholder activists are now trying to force Standard Bank, … [Read more...]
Standard Bank tables first SA shareholder resolution on climate risk
Standard Bank’s Notice of Annual General Meeting, released on 17 April 2019, includes a resolution proposed by shareholders that would require the bank to prepare a report on its exposure to climate risk in its lending, financing and investment activities. This is the first time that a South African company has tabled a shareholder resolution on any climate-related issue. … [Read more...]
Green bank safeguarding the future
What is our green bank and valued partner up to in their quest to "futureproof society?" Did you know the Nedbank Fair Share 2030 programme includes supporting farmers, housing, renewable energy, resilient communities, education, water infrastructure, food security, sustainable agriculture and much more. With an eagle eye on greenhouse gas emissions they have been carbon … [Read more...]
Campaign demands banks stop financing fossil fuel projects
Climate change movement 350Afrca.org recently launched its Fossil Free Africa campaign, with a call on ‘dirty banks’ to fully disclose their fossil fuel investments and commit to stop financing future mining, refinery and power station projects in South Africa and across Africa. Activists protested outside the headquarters of Nedbank in Sandton, Johannesburg citing the … [Read more...]
Activists kick off Fossil Free campaign outside prominent bank
Activists in Sandton this week kicked off the campaign for a Fossil Free Africa. "This is a fight for our future, and that of our children -- a future where we have clean energy and water to survive, and where our energy supply doesn’t cost the earth," they said. The activists were outside Nedbank’s headquarters to expose the bank’s greenwashing and their role in South … [Read more...]
First ever renewable energy banking branch coming
Can you imagine a banking branch that runs entirely on alternative energy – and that in South Africa? If you were under the impression that our country’s green bank Nedbank was only talking the talk, but not walking the walk, I have news for you. Nedbank has announced their intentions to launch the first off grid branch running entirely on renewable energy in Landsdowne, Cape … [Read more...]
Nedbank Capital scoops three international awards
Nedbank Capital recently scooped three prestigious awards at the 2012 Project Finance Deal of the Year Awards held in London at the luxurious Grand Connaught Hotel. These awards included the African Wind Deal of the Year, African Oil and Gas Deal of the Year, and the EMEA Oil and Gas Deal of the Year. For the last 14 years, the Project Finance Deal of the Year Awards have … [Read more...]
Six years of corporate green
For the sixth consecutive year, Nedbank Group has been included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index; one of only two South African financial institutions and five South African companies to feature on this important benchmark of global corporate sustainability. The other South African companies included on the 2012 DJSI were Gold Fields, Investec, Woolworths and … [Read more...]
UK’s green bank commits billions
The UK Government's £3bn flagship scheme to encourage private sector money flow into low carbon technology and green initiatives is on the hunt for projects with which to formally launch in October. Officials preparing the launch of the Green Investment Bank are understood to have met with a number of businesses about committing cash to a number of environmentally friendly … [Read more...]
Green bank shows commitment to water protection
Water is the critical issue that has been taken under the wing of South Africa’s greenest bank. Following the Nedbank Group’s achievement of carbon neutrality, the group has targeted water as a key focus of its sustainability efforts – with particular emphasis on access, quality and quantity as a three-pronged approach to effective water stewardship and the achievement of … [Read more...]
