Standard Bank Group champions sustainable investing & climate transition across Africa

Conventionally, investors around the world are primarily motivated by investment returns and have little interest in how those returns were generated. In recent times, however, there has been a seismic shift in this attitude – with organizations and individuals increasingly recognizing the interdependencies between social, environmental and economic issues.

Organizations continue to incorporate ESG principles in their investment strategies; and across the African continent, the Standard Bank Group has been at the forefront of the responsible investing agenda.

The Bank’s commitment to ESG finds expression in its climate policy, which among many other things articulates the approach to gas as a transition-fuel in Africa. Standard Bank believes that a crucial component of balancing economic development and social uplift with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions lies in developing Africa’s natural gas resources. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy sources with higher emissions, such as wood and coal, will need to be replaced with lower-carbon fuels – such as liquefied petroleum gas for cooking and natural gas for base-load generation.

In Ghana, for example, Standard Bank South Africa and Stanbic Ghana acted as the debt arranger and coordinating bank for a syndicated loan for Genser Energy Ghana Limited to support the construction of a natural gas pipeline and processing facilities. The impact from this project will be far-reaching. The funding will be used to refinance Genser’s existing debt and support the next phase of its expansion, enabling construction of a 105km natural gas pipeline to Ghana’s second-largest city, Kumasi; a gas-conditioning plant in Prestea; and a natural gas liquid (NGL) storage terminal at Takoradi Port.

Read external article