For most types of business, being environmentally friendly and sustainable is important, but it’s still not seen as something that should be core to their business. They are often just “moral must do’s” along with every day business activities.
For Standard Bank Group, sustainability is what we do. We see environmental or green issues as part of a bigger picture that includes both individual and societal development. The way we can assist in reducing the man-made risks related to climate change is by help businesses or people make the wise choice.
There are two important parts to this. The first is where we understand that we can’t change the world overnight but do need to make a real difference, by using new technology. So helping companies refurbish their buildings with better more efficient technology is one example.
The second is assisting people with believing in the new thinking and new technology. By doing this, we can help new technologies become more accessible and affordable. Sometimes that means funding development or creating awareness of possibilities so that enough people want and benefit from the technologies.
We help this along through our projects like the 110 000 solar water heaters being installed in low income houses in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is a lower impact way of providing people with hot water and it creates jobs in the installation and maintenance of the systems. It proves it can be done, and it gets everyone started.
Projects like this are about saving future energy and improving people’s lives in a very short space of time.
We play a role in the new economy because it’s important to our employees, to our customers and their businesses and ultimately to our own.
You too can find a way to save on electricity or energy. You’ll be making your business, lifestyle or home that much more sustainable.
