For the second time in 12 months, Deutsche Bank is about to violate its own Environmental and Social Policy Framework. By mid-2021, the bank is expected to transfer the second tranche of a 25m USD loan to Singapore-based rubber giant Halcyon Agri, knowingly overlooking its record of human rights violations, non-transparency, and some of the most devastating deforestation in … [Read more...]
Calling on banks to stop funding East African oil pipeline
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...]
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...]
Let’s keep the farmers informed
Investing in agriculture over the past two decades has proven to be a sound strategy for some, but not all regions have flourished as a vicious cycle of extreme poverty and a poor understanding of market finance have stunted economic prospects in many low and middle-income countries. Africa may be on the verge of a major economic transformation but some of the greatest … [Read more...]
Supporting conservation projects with community-based programs
Back in 1990, Nedbank took a revolutionary step in creating a retail banking product, Green Affinity, that incentivised customers to invest in conservation. This was the beginning of the company’s ‘green’ journey in partnership with WWF. Since then, the number of Green Affinity products has grown to include credit cards, current accounts, savings accounts, investment products … [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...]
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...]
Atlas to help tap SA wind potential
South Africa has launched its first verified wind atlas, which maps out potential hotspots as a tool for wind farm developers as the coal-hungry country pushes toward renewable energy. The Wind Atlas for South Africa, launched Deputy Energy Minister Barbara Thompson on Tuesday, brings together 30 years' worth of data verified over a year by 10 measurement masts and data … [Read more...]
Green investment goes to the next level
Nedbank’s Green Index Outperformed The ALSI By More Than 30% Since July 2008; an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) aimed at institutional and retail investors. South African retail and institutional investors will now be able to invest based on their green convictions through the launch of the Nedbank BGreen ETF that has been approved by the Financial Services Board and which will … [Read more...]
