The five biggest banks in South Africa are investing in its climate

Realized in South Africa

The five biggest banks in South Africa are investing in its climate

There is no secret in the fact that banks gain their monetary value by investing. But what about their sustainability value? Huge impact can be made by getting banks to invest in sustainable focussed companies and projects. This is what Proparco is trying to achieve in South Africa.

The challenge

Rebel was commissioned by Proparco to identify and spur climate investments in South Africa. Proparco is a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) focused on private sector development. It provides funding and support to both businesses and financial institutions across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle-East.

Proparco can, through the Transforming Financial Systems for Climate (TFSC) programme, offer credit facilities and a Technical Assistance Programme for banks and project owners. The credit facilities will offer financial incentives in the form of longer tenors, grace periods or lower interest rates depending on the local needs, which the banks will then, in turn, use to finance climate investments. Secondly, Proparco can provide grants to finance technical support to banks willing to develop their climate investment offer.

For this project Rebel functioned as the project manager. In that role the Rebels were responsible for setting deadlines, deliverables and communications with Proparco. We also developed a strategy for the engagement with the five largest banks in South Africa. This engagement entailed a first introduction to the TFSC programme and the subsequent dealings with the treasury department and green climate people within the banks.

After Rebel also worked on the design of the credit lines and assessing if and where technical assistance might be applicable.

Crucial role of the financial sector.

"Shifting lending by these commercial banks demonstrates the critical role to be played by the financial sector in climate adaptation and mitigation."

Rolf Dauskardt