Standard Bank Group (SBG) recently released its 2012 ‘Sustainability Report’ and says its sustainability programmes are mutually reinforcing and have served the company well.
The report indicates that SBG’s repositioning several years ago, to focus on Africa and link its sustainability with that of the people and businesses of the continent, is paying dividends for the company and its markets.
SBG committed R9.4-billion to renewable-energy projects in South Africa and achieved a reduction of 19-million tons of greenhouse-gas emissions through carbon financing.
SBG head of sustainability management Karin Ireton says the company’s sustainability reporting has matured, enabling it to articulate and assess the value of sustainability for the business.
An example of the objectivity of SBG’s reporting is that the company indicates in its report that its carbon emissions for South Africa totalled 412 089 t in 2012 and 180 403 t in 2011 – not because the bank’s carbon footprint has worsened, but because its measurement of energy use has improved. The bank has designed an innovative method to better understand the costs of energy in an organisation running hundreds of sites, most of which have different energy suppliers and different ways of billing.
“The improved reporting enables us to make better decisions about reducing our carbon footprint across both our ATM network and our multi- ple branches and offices, which all have different lighting configu- rations and different levels of computer, air conditioning and photocopier use,” says Ireton.
As a consequence, the report reflects advances in transformation, inclusive and responsible banking products and services and better infrastructure as well as increased renewable energy, affordable housing and agriculture financing.
“One of the reasons SBG has reached the venerable age of 150 years is that it has always been responsive to the issues of the times. In the modern era, sustainability is the issue and the group is responding to it holistically and in an integrated way,” she adds.
By embedding sustainability thinking and sustainable business practices at every level of the business, Ireton says, SBG has prevented fraud involving R1.1-billion, created R60-billion in wealth and handled the banking of more than 661 000 small- and medium-sized enterprises across Africa.
SBG has also spent R125-million in corporate social investment.
Its banking customers has increased from 5.4-million in 2011 to 6.2-million in 2012 and the number of its women managers has increased to 47%. The bank has also increased its spending on training from R484-million in 2011 to R609-million in 2012.