Hospital group Netcare has received the South African Energy Efficiency Confederation (SAEEC) 2021 Award for Commercial Corporate Company of the Year in recognition of its contribution to energy savings.

The private healthcare group and its national environmental sustainability manager André Nortjé have subsequently been nominated by SAEEC for the 2022 regional and international Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) Awards.

Nortjé received the SAEEC’s Young Professional of the Year Award and says the “climate change emergency demands urgency”.

“Ongoing innovation in energy efficiency can help to prevent or limit the deleterious effects of climate change in South Africa and across the globe, but only if the corporate sector recognises the urgency and the value of investing in sustainability and acts now,” says Netcare CEO Dr Richard Friedland.

Since 2013, Netcare has placed considerable emphasis on improving energy efficiency at its facilities throughout South Africa and has implemented more than 194 environmental sustainability projects.

“At the end of the 2021 financial year, our group was able to achieve a 28% energy intensity reduction per hospital bed, surpassing its original target of 22% to 25% set for 2023. We have eliminated more than R820-million in energy, water and waste costs since 2013,” says Nortjé.

Netcare currently has the second-biggest installed base of solar photovoltaic of all private or commercial companies in South Africa.

In 2021, its environmental sustainability projects added additional yearly electricity savings of more than R21-million, while also reducing Netcare’s reliance on fossil fuels and the national power grid, he highlights.

“The group’s environmental sustainability programme has demonstrated an impressive return on investment to date, illustrating the commercial opportunities in environmentally conscious engineering,” explains Nortjé.

“When I started my engineering career, energy efficiency as a business strategy was not well understood by corporates or investors. It is encouraging to see how such initiatives are rapidly gaining momentum as well as recognition as viable and sustainable business opportunities,” he adds.

“The award to Netcare serves as encouragement that corporates can make a difference, and will hopefully help to generate broader awareness of the highly viable solutions developed right here in South Africa,” comments Friedland.

“André and his team, together with Netcare property division GM Theuns Langenhoven, have been instrumental in continually driving the process and reinforcing the critical importance of environmental sustainability throughout the different project streams,” he points out.

Further, Netcare has set ambitious 2030 environmental sustainability targets to achieve zero Scope 2 emissions, as well as zero waste to landfill.

“We are already seeing the devastation and tragedy climate change can wreak in our country and around the world. Global warming is no longer a buzzword, it is an emergency requiring urgent action and international knowledge sharing,” Friedland states.

Netcare has also won gold medals, the highest accolade, in all four categories in the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals 2020 and 2021 Health Care Climate Challenge Awards. The global awards for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, Renewable Energy, Climate Resilience, and Climate Leadership further solidified Netcare's standing as a leader in environmentally conscious healthcare institutions, he says.