- The lender has set a target to finance 250 billion to 300 billion rand worth of sustainable projects between 2021 and 2026 as part of a plan to cut its Scope 3 emissions caused by its fossil fuel project financing.
- Environmental advocates and activist investors have regularly criticised Standard Bank for funding climate-polluting hydrocarbon assets on the continent.
On Tuesday, South Africa’s Standard Bank Group funded renewable energy projects worth 55 billion rands ($2.79 billion) in 2022, exceeding its green financing target and putting it ahead of the world’s top lenders. Africa’s biggest lender by assets earmarked 40 billion rands for sustainable projects last year, Kenny Fihla, its chief executive for Corporate and Investment Banking, said in slides prepared for journalists.
However, in October, he pegged that target at 50 billion rands. Standard Bank officials were not immediately available to explain the difference. Environmental advocates and activist investors have regularly criticised Standard Bank for funding climate-polluting hydrocarbon assets on the continent. Filha said, “Our financing of renewable energy is 439% greater than our financing of non-renewable energy and adding this achievement was significant compared to the world’s largest financiers.”
He said that this rate is tracking ahead of its 2026 target. The lender has set a target to finance 250 billion to 300 billion rand worth of sustainable projects between 2021 and 2026 as part of a plan to cut its Scope 3 emissions caused by its fossil fuel project financing. While most of the banks in South Africa – Nedbank, FirstRand, and Absa Group, amongst the biggest on the continent have distanced themselves from financing the EACOP pipeline, they have not moved away from coal. It aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions from its portfolio of funded emissions by 2050.