Does Standard Bank's clean energy funding outweigh its controversial dirty energy deal facilitation?

At least one bank is making a dent in South Africa’s R1-trillion renewable energy funding opportunity, although it remains a lead financial arranger for the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

Shareholder activist group Just Share says the pipeline will pump enough oil to send up to 34.3mt of carbon dioxide – about seven times the emissions of Uganda and Tanzania combined – into the atmosphere each year.

At a media briefing on Tuesday, Standard Bank South Africa claimed it was one of the largest investors in green energy, anticipating a total book size of more than R3-billion in solar installation finance by the end of this year.

The R3bn figure includes money that will be disbursed as part of the government’s energy bounce-back loan scheme which went live on Standard Bank’s books on 20 September. 

Lungisa Fuzile, Standard Bank South Africa’s chief executive, says although it’s still early days, about R1-million has already been disbursed via the bounce-back loan scheme. 

“There is increasing interest as more people come to know about it, because currently, most are using personal loans or equity in their home loans to finance their solar installations,” he says. 

The bank says it expects to fund another R300-million towards consumer solar installations in the fourth quarter of this year alone.  

Through its LookSee home efficiency digital platform, Standard Bank has installed over R600-million worth of home solar systems comprising more than 3,700 solar panels, with estimated annual savings of almost R14-million being achieved by said customers.

Fuzile says: “Standard Bank aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2040 and from its portfolio of financed emissions by 2050, aligning with the Paris Agreement. 

“In the first half of 2023, Standard Bank mobilised R28-billion for sustainable finance, bringing the cumulative amount since the 2022 financial year to R83-billion.” 

Renewable energy 

Sustainable finance transactions