1 November 2011 | Linton Nightingale
Carbon, Africa

 

An integrated approach pays off

Widely regarded as South Africa’s green and caring bank, a key lesson of Nedbank’s ongoing sustainability journey is that it cannot be achieved in isolation.

For Nedbank, true sustainability is as much about preserving the environment, as it is about working to ensure prosperity for all. This is why it follows an integrated approach, in which sustainability informs its thinking, actions and behaviour, as well as its plans for the future. This in turn maximises its operational efficiencies and, ultimately, its profitability. Essentially, it’s a green blueprint for business that has at its heart the goal of securing a better life for all.

While it enjoys a reputation as South Africa’s truly green bank,Nedbank Group’s sustainability efforts are focused on far more than just environmental considerations. In fact, the group’s vision to become a global leader in sustainability hinges on its recognition that true sustainability encompasses a number of interlinked and, in many respects, interdependent priorities.

According to Brigitte Burnett, Head of Sustainability for Nedbank Group, this understanding of the integrated nature of sustainability has long driven the bank’s approach to environmental and social sustainability and ensured that the achievement of one generally drives, or at least contributes to, the other. 

‘Given the widespread reliance of the majority of South African communities on nature’s bounty and, simultaneously, the dependence of our country’s natural heritage on the preservation awareness and actions of its people, environmental and social sustainability are inextricably linked,’ Burnett explains, ‘and efforts at ensuring the sustainability of one, without due consideration of the other, are likely to deliver diminished results at best, and doomed to failure at worst.’

According to Burnett, this integrated sustainability philosophy has always informed Nedbank’s environmental and social sustainability efforts, both of which are facilitated through a simultaneous focus on its own profitability and economic sustainability, as this is what ensures it can continue to have a positive impact. She cites a number of recent initiatives that serve to illustrate this approach, and the value it unlocks for individuals, communities and the environment.

The group’s so-called ‘social carbon approach’ to gaining the carbon credits needed for its carbon neutrality is a prime example of this integrated sustainability philosophy. The credits were obtained via voluntary investment in the Rukinga Project in Kenya and the Umdoni Gel Fuel Low-income Housing project in KwaZulu-Natal.

‘As the world’s first Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) project to issue carbon credits, the Rukinga Project is not only preventing the deforestation of Kenya’s Kasigau Wildlife Corridor, but also delivering significant economic, social and cultural benefits to local communities, particularly through education, healthcare and job creation,’ explains Burnett.

And the Umdoni Gel Fuel project has a similar dual sustainability focus. The project aims to reduce carbon emissions by providing 4 000 households in the region with energy-efficient bioethanol gel-burning stoves and seven litres of gel fuel per month. But just as important as the green value of this project, is the potential it has to ensure the safety of communities by preventing devastating fires and the contribution it makes to the economic wellbeing of the people of Umdoni by saving them a significant amount of money in their energy costs each month.

And this integrated sustainability approach isn’t unique to Nedbank Group’s carbon neutrality efforts. It’s something the group has been doing for many years, as evidenced by its involvement in, among others, the Coffee Bay Sustainable Mussel Harvesting programme and the Wildlands Conservation Trust’s efforts to conserve land involved in land claim settlements by working with the communities to create ecotourism and conservation management opportunities.

According to Burnett, these projects and initiatives illustrate the potential for the emerging green economy not only to drive the development of South Africa’s (and the world’s) environmental and economic development, but also to create a real platform for lasting social upliftment.

‘It’s essential that businesses and individuals begin to recognise the potential inherent in the successful creation of a truly green economy, because it really is the only viable means by which we can create a sustainable future for our country and our planet,’ she emphasises, ‘but it requires a fundamental shift in perception from seeing society, the environment and the economy as separate issues to recognising that they are inextricably linked and, in many respects, absolutely dependent on each other.’

 

For enquires, please contact the Head of Sustainability, Nedbank Group: Brigitte Burnett on:

Tel: +27 11 294 3692

Fax: +27 11 295 3692

E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

For more information on Nedbank’s sustainability initiatives, please visit www.nedbankgreen.co.za and www.nedbankgroup.co.za/sustainabilityOverview.asp

 

                                                                             

A Member of the OLD MUTUAL Group

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