Winner ‒ Energy and carbon management: National Business Initiative
South Africa is notorious for its bad energy efficiency, something the National Business Initiative (NBI) is set on changing. The organisation has achieved wonders already by making big companies more aware of their green footprint and encouraging them to institute energy- efficiency policies.
The NBI believes that it makes sense for companies to become more energy efficient and that, far from this reducing their bottom line, it can increase profits.
The Greening the Future judges said the NBI is “great on engaging businesses to become more energy efficient [and is] playing a wonderful role in making businesses more responsible”.
André Fourie, chief executive officer of the NBI, said: “Recognising that sustainable development principles can be applied in numerous ways, the NBI has chosen energy efficiency as one initiative to demonstrate the positive spin-offs of sustainable development.”
The organisation has devised an Energy Efficiency Accord — resposible for a marked difference in how South African companies have reworked the way they do business to become more energy efficiency — and has succeeded in getting some heavyweights aboard.
The NBI acts as a facilitator between government and the large energy-intensive industries on energy efficiency strategy. At present 39 companies have pledged their involvement in the scheme, among them AngloGold Ashanti, Eskom and Nedbank.
The accord requires signatories to support the national target of reducing final energy demand by 15% by 2015. In practice this means companies are encouraged to invest in new economic activity, but at the same time to pursue new technologies to reduce the energy use per unit of output, Fourie said.
Industry signatories must promote sector-specific targets and strategies, promote demand-side management contracts, develop common reporting requirements for energy usage, and define industry-specific projected energy use in future.
The year 2000 was agreed as the baseline year for measuring performance. The signatories had to establish methodologies that allow baseline quantification for energy use and intensity and which will take into account increased production. They committed also to developing a generic auditing protocol that can be adapted by individual signatories.
“It’s been a year and a half and a good deal of effort has gone into companies crystallising their energy efficiency strategies and making it part of corporate strategy,” said the organisation’s project manager for energy and climate, Tsvetana Mateva. “Once you’ve created your strategy, you know where you want to go.”
For the business community, ensuring energy security to achieve the growth targets set out in the accelerated growth and development initiative of South Africa is a clear argument for why these practices should be adopted. At the same time energy efficiency contributes to sustainable development objectives by significantly reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.
The NBI was formed when the Urban Foundation and the Consultative Business Movement merged in 1995. The coalition believes that a secure business environment requires a stable social milieu and that government and business need to partner each other for social development.
“The NBI’s role is that of advocacy for good corporate citizenship, partnership-building and strategic project implementation. It mobilises business leadership and corporate resources, promotes business-government dialogue and implements large-scale programmes,” said Fourie.
Three major initiatives in the late 1990s — Business Against Crime, the Business Trust and the Colleges Collaboration Fund, an education project — demonstrate the NBI’s success in building relationships and influencing policy. The first two are now separate organisations, while the Colleges Collaboration Fund was a five-year project developed by the NBI and the Business Trust.
The NBI has chosen now to focus on sustainable development, including skills training and environmental concerns. A Sustainable Futures Unit (SFU) was set up in 2002 and in the same year the NBI became a regional partner to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The activities of the SFU are concentrated in the areas of energy efficiency, climate change and the United Nations Global Compact in South Africa.
“Our focus on sustainable development is central. It is strengthened also by some specific environmental issues confronting South Africa, such as energy, water and the serious impact that climate change will have on economic sectors, such as agriculture and tourism,” Fourie said.
The SFU has produced a protocol guideline for signatories to measure, verify and track progress; case studies which showcase successful implementation of energy efficiency; and a weekly e-zine, On a Clear Day. There is also a bi-monthly publication, Quick Brief, and a quarterly, the Bottom Line.
The NBI also encourages local business to report on carbon footprints through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Incite Sustainability, a South African-based consultancy that advises on sustainability policy and practice. The CDP serves as the secretariat for the world’s largest institutional investor collaboration on the business implications of climate change, said Fourie.
Last year more than 200 financial services organisations participated in the CDP. This year the NBI has invited the JSE’s Top 40 companies to participate, and the South African report will be released in October. More than 2Â 000 companies will be participating worldwide.
Category sponsored by Eskom