Standard Bank Group

Managing climate risk and opportunity

We commit to enabling Africa’s just energy transition and to prudently managing climate risk.

We are committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UAE Consensus adopted at COP28 in December 2023. Our group ambition is to achieve net zero across our lending and investing activities by 2050, and in our direct operations by 2030 for newly built facilities, and by 2040 for existing facilities. Enabling Africa’s just energy transition is central to our strategy. We continue to expand our financing for renewable energy, distributed energy systems, and associated energy infrastructure. We are working with our clients to support their energy transitions, improved energy efficiency, and decarbonisation.

We offer various solutions to support households, small businesses, and farmers across Africa to shift to more energy efficient and renewable energy solutions. We prudently manage climate risk through a group-led climate risk management programme that integrates climate-related risks into the overall risk management framework as a transversal risk that impacts other risk types.

Supporting the Transition
Supporting the transition
Mobilised
R65 billion
for development of new renewable energy infrastructure. Investment in renewable energy infrastructure is a priority for the group.

We have financed 3 640MW of new renewable energy infrastructure in South Africa since the launch of South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producers programme (REIPPP) in 2011.

This equates to more than R50 billion of committed financing over the past 12 years.
Our climate journey and future commitments

Our climate policy is designed with Africa’s social, economic and environmental context as its starting point. We have set commitments and targets for thermal coal, oil, gas and agriculture, based on their identified levels of elevated climate risk. Over the next 2 to 3 years, climate targets and commitments will also be set in additional sectors including insurance, residential and commercial property, and transportation.

2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2025
  • Publish targets and commitments for additional sectors 
  • Publish financed emissions for additional sectors 
  • Review existing targets and commitments and update the climate policy 
2024
  • Published financed emissions for upstream oil and gas 
  • Expanded employee training programmes on ESG, sustainability and climate across sectors and countries 
2023
  • Published phase two commitments and targets 
  • Implemented climate risk scenario analysis and stress testing on pilot basis in selected sectors 
  • Selected phase three sectors and commenced risk assessment and target setting 
  • Published Sustainable Finance Framework 
  • Implemented sustainability and climate training for employees across business areas and risk functions 
  • Mobilised R15.5 billion for new renewable energy infrastructure and R600 million for climate smart agriculture 
  • Included climate risk assessment in environmental and social (E&S) risk assessment process 
2022
  • Committed to achieving net zero by 2050 
  • Published SBG climate policy, with targets and commitments for phase 1 sectors 
  • Selected phase two sectors and commenced risk assessment and target setting
  • Adopted group-wide climate risk management programme 
  • Joined PCAF to build capacity to measure financed emissions 
  • Subsidiary board members undertook training on climate change 
  • Mobilised 18.2 billion for new renewable energy infrastructure 
2021
  • Selected priority sectors for phase 1 and began work to assess exposure to climate risk and set climate commitments and targets 
  • Hosted first annual climate change summit for clients and partners 
  • Launched bespoke climate-focused executive development programme with University of London’s School of Oriental and African (SOAS) 
  • Launched PowerPulse to provide solar PV solutions for businesses and LookSee for homeowners 
2020
  • Implemented fossil fuels finance policy 
  • Published first annual climate-related disclosures report 
  • Published SBG Sustainable Bond Framework 
  • Issued inaugural USD200 million green bond with the IFC 
  • Board members undertook training on climate change 
2019
  • Implemented restrictions on financing thermal coal mining and coal-fired power generation 
  • Joined UNEPFI’s TCFD pilot programme for banks 
  • Established sustainable finance team to leverage climate-related opportunities 
ESG governance and risk management
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2025
2025
  • Publish targets and commitments for additional sectors 
  • Publish financed emissions for additional sectors 
  • Review existing targets and commitments and update the climate policy 
2024
2024
  • Published financed emissions for upstream oil and gas 
  • Expanded employee training programmes on ESG, sustainability and climate across sectors and countries 
2023
2023
  • Published phase two commitments and targets 
  • Implemented climate risk scenario analysis and stress testing on pilot basis in selected sectors 
  • Selected phase three sectors and commenced risk assessment and target setting 
  • Published Sustainable Finance Framework 
  • Implemented sustainability and climate training for employees across business areas and risk functions 
  • Mobilised R15.5 billion for new renewable energy infrastructure and R600 million for climate smart agriculture 
  • Included climate risk assessment in environmental and social (E&S) risk assessment process 
2022
2022
  • Committed to achieving net zero by 2050 
  • Published SBG climate policy, with targets and commitments for phase 1 sectors 
  • Selected phase two sectors and commenced risk assessment and target setting
  • Adopted group-wide climate risk management programme 
  • Joined PCAF to build capacity to measure financed emissions 
  • Subsidiary board members undertook training on climate change 
  • Mobilised 18.2 billion for new renewable energy infrastructure 
2021
2021
  • Selected priority sectors for phase 1 and began work to assess exposure to climate risk and set climate commitments and targets 
  • Hosted first annual climate change summit for clients and partners 
  • Launched bespoke climate-focused executive development programme with University of London’s School of Oriental and African (SOAS) 
  • Launched PowerPulse to provide solar PV solutions for businesses and LookSee for homeowners 
2020
2020
  • Implemented fossil fuels finance policy 
  • Published first annual climate-related disclosures report 
  • Published SBG Sustainable Bond Framework 
  • Issued inaugural USD200 million green bond with the IFC 
  • Board members undertook training on climate change 
2019
2019
  • Implemented restrictions on financing thermal coal mining and coal-fired power generation 
  • Joined UNEPFI’s TCFD pilot programme for banks 
  • Established sustainable finance team to leverage climate-related opportunities 
ESG governance and risk management
Climate-related Financial disclosures (CRFD) Report
Discusses how the group is managing the risks and responding to the opportunities presented by climate change, aligned to the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
CRFD_Report_14Dimensions
Download our climate policy documents
2022-03-31
75KB
PDF
2022-03-31
308KB
PDF
2022-03-31
78KB
PDF