environmental SUSTAINABILITY

NEDBANK’S CLIMATE CHANGE JOURNEY

Addressing the impacts of climate change has remained the key environmental focus for Nedbank Group and 2009 saw this focus intensify as a central element of our integrated sustainability journey and strategy.

Our climate change journey has included the continued reduction of our impact on the environment and the recognition of the crucial role that the banking industry has to play in enabling SA’s transition from a carbon-intensive economy to more efficient low- carbon alternatives.

Awareness | Measurement | Reduction | Neutralisation

DRIVING AWARENESS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

ENHANCING AWARENESS THROUGH TRAINING AND COMMUNICATION

Knowledge and understanding are essential to shifting mindsets and behaviour, and therefore Nedbank Group continues to enhance the levels of climate change awareness and understanding among stakeholders. Nedbank has focused on various means of awareness creation, including formal and informal methods of engagement, depending on the needs and awareness levels of the various stakeholders.

During 2009:

A number of face-to-face training sessions were conducted as part of our general sustainability awareness programme, namely the Nedbank Group induction process, various management development programmes and executive and board development initiatives.
The group's online Sustainability E-learning Programme, introduced in 2008, became part of the compulsory training for all staff during 2009 and is supplemented by a Sustainability Portal, which was launched to serve as a dynamic sustainability resource.
Numerous environmental presentations were delivered to key staffmembers, including senior management and the executive, as well as to members of the Board Transformation and Sustainability Subcommittee.
Overviews of our integrated sustainability initiatives were included in staff roadshows and various other internal communication channels such as Engage (an internal email service) and our internal staff magazine, 3sixty.
Our 'green' internet and intranet sites continued to provide general environmental sustainability information, helping to empower stakeholders to adopt a green mindset and way of life.
Our 'green' intranet site was used to enable staff to calculate their carbon footprint.
Nedbank employees were provided with training by specialists from the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA), covering issues such as climate change, the resulting water challenges and the impacts on biodiversity.
As part of a visual awareness campaign, we have placed environmental awareness stickers promoting behavioural change in various areas within our headoffice premises.
Nedbank Retail launched an awareness DVD series that provided staff with information on greening their home and office, promoting effective waste management and encouraging greener alternatives to travel. The DVD series was supplemented by a number of face-to-face workshops that provided staff with general environmental sustainability information and practical 'green' tips.

ENHANCING AWARENESS THROUGH STAFF ENGAGEMENT

One of the primary initiatives by which Nedbank Group promotes environmental awareness is our annual groupwide Deep Green Day. The theme for the 2009 Deep Green Day was ‘Together, let’s shrink our footprint’. A carbon footprint survey was circulated to all employees as part of a competition to incentivise staff to calculate their own carbon footprint. Our group headoffice hosted an organic market and a race to complete solar cookers on bicycles, which were later donated to street vendors.

The Department of Plant Science at the University of Pretoria donated 165 trees, which staffmembers planted in Evaton, Vosloorus, Mamelodi, Dobsonville, Cosmo City, Olievenhoutbos, Lenasia, Alexandra and Plastic Town.

As part of the Deep Green Day activities, Nedbank Group also sponsored an Eco-school staff volunteerism programme. The Eco-school Programme provided funds for more than 47 projects that saw more than 750 employees helping to establish vegetable tunnels, building water tanks, and assembling solar cookers at Eco-schools across the country.

ENHANCING AWARENESS THROUGH INTERNAL ‘GREENING’ AND CARBON REDUCTION INITIATIVES

The use of ‘green’ chemicals was extended to all Nedbank Group headoffice buildings during 2009 and recycling bins were provided in all headoffice buildings and will be rolled out to our branch network. Nedbank Group has also agreed with a number of its vendors to ensure the recycling of print cartridges that are used in our businesses. We have piloted the use of environmentally friendly paper towels in our bathroom areas and are investigating the use of other environmentally friendly products. We have also been ‘greening’ our catering and functions in accordance with WWF-SA guidelines. An e-waste initiative gives staff an opportunity to dispose of their personal printer cartridges in dedicated bins at their workplaces.

Taking ‘greening’ to the next level

On 15 October 2009 the Nedbank phase II building became the first building in South Africa to be awarded a Green Star SA rating. The primary goal of a ‘green’ building is to minimise its impact on the environment. A minimum of 45 points is required to achieve a four-star design rating. The Nedbank phase II building comfortably passed with 54 points in total.

During construction of the Nedbank building the contractor recycled 85% of all construction waste that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill. The design also paid particular attention to good indoor environmental quality (IEQ) conditions by increasing fresh-air rates, monitoring carbon dioxide, providing external views and natural light for the majority of workers – all of which make for a better indoor working environment.

Water conservation has also been a primary focus. Waste water is captured for recycling and is then reused for irrigation and toilet flushing.

As a further extension of the ‘green’ building principles, 148 bicycle parking spaces and dedicated cyclist changing facilities with warm-water showers using heat pump technology have been made available.

ENHANCING AWARENESS THROUGH EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS

During 2009 Nedbank Group participated in a number of conferences and engagements aimed at addressing various environmental sustainability issues. These included:

The Climate Change Summit 2009 – which served as a consultative process aimed at developing the South African Climate Change Response Policy.
The Water for Growth and Development Conference – which focused on all of the pressing issues that need to be addressed to preserve this scarce resource.
The Renewable Energy Summit – it is a mid-term review of the progress made since the 2003 approval of the White Paper on Renewable Energy.

VOTE EARTH

Nedbank Group was a key sponsor of this WWF-SA campaign aimed at creating awareness of climate change and gathering support to press for actions by governments to combat climate change through programmes such as emission-reduction targets. The landmark event of the campaign was the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference held in December 2009.

The objectives of the Vote Earth Campaign were:

to get ordinary citizens and businesses to commit their support to combating climate change and lobby within their own constituencies for South Africa to play a strong and ambitious leadership role for a fair and effective agreement to keep global warming as far below two degrees as possible; and
to engage government, leaders and business to ensure commitment towards a new climate deal for the planet.

During the campaign Climate Change Champions were identified, among them Tom Boardman (Nedbank Group CE). These champions joined the fight against climate change by calling on political leaders to lead the world towards a future in which energy supply is clean, the economy functions on low-carbon principles, and the most vulnerable countries receive the support they need to adapt to the future impacts of climate change. 25 000 votes were registered.

WWF-SA

Nedbank Group’s unique conservation partnership with WWF- SA spans some 19 years. In the last three years this partnership has seen WWF-SA providing direct input into our sustainability and environmental policies, strategies, systems and training. A representative from WWF-SA is a member of the GEF and a number of working committees supporting the GEF. WWF-SA continues to work with Nedbank to define specific targets for environmental actions.

WWF-SA has actively encouraged Nedbank to enhance our environmental influence through our supplier base and continually enhance our environmental risk management processes, with particular focus on addressing both climate change risks and opportunities.

Accordingly Nedbank approaches sustainability risks and opportunities, including climate change risks and opportunites, from a long-term perspective to enable Nedbank to be aware of new classes of emerging risks and to capture new opportunities that may arise.

Following Nedbank Group’s commitment to carbon neutrality, WWF-SA and the group established a Carbon Neutral Task Team to ensure the integrity of the fulfilment of this commitment.

United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative

Nedbank Group was the first South African bank to join the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in February 2004. We continued our support during 2009 by co-chairing the UNEP FI African Task Force (ATF), which addresses sustainability issues in the African context.

UNEP FI is a public-private partnership between the United Nations and the worldwide financial sector and seeks close collaboration between more than 280 financial institutions to develop and promote links between the environment and financial performance. As co-chair of the UNEP FI ATF, Nedbank Group remains involved in the Global UNEP FI Steering Committee, and as a member of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Worksstream.

In 2009 Nedbank Group contributed to the UNEP FI Biodiversity Offsets Project, which focused on informing legislation with the aim of creating best practice or model law. The group has also joined, and is co-chairing, the Water and Finance Workstream, which focuses on industry usage of water and water-offset initiatives. Nedbank Group contributed to the workstream’s first publication in the Chief Liquidity Series ‘Agribusiness’, which included a study on the impact of water scarcity on agriculture in South Africa.

Finally, Nedbank Group was actively involved – as both a sponsor and participant – in the UNEP FI Global Round Table event held in Cape Town in October 2009, which was held as part of an official ‘Green Week’ in Cape Town. Chief Executive (CE), Tom Boardman shared Nedbank Group’s integrated sustainability journey at a plenary session, and a number of the bank’s representatives took part in the various workshop panel discussions and presentations.

ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE

During 2009 a total of approximately R31,3 million was channelled into environmental initiatives and in support of achieving our commitment to carbon neutrality through Nedbank’s various business units, including the CE’s office, Enterprise Governance and Compliance (EGC), Nedbank Retail, Nedbank Capital, Nedbank Property Services, Nedbank Property Finance, Group Marketing, Communications and The Green Trust.

NEDBANK CAPITAL CARBON PROJECTS

During 2009 Nedbank Capital was involved in the implementation of a number of carbon benefit projects across Africa, some of which are currently underway, and others that currently await approval by the relevant authorities. Projects included:

In late 2009 Nedbank Capital and Wildlife Works Inc (WWI) signed a multimillion-dollar agreement on an East African carbon project – Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. This carbon-offset deal will pour millions of dollars into Kenya and is set to serve as a model for South Africa to tap into the global green economy. The project brings substantial benefits to local communities through education, job creation, environmental protection and direct financial rewards, while protecting precious biodiversity at the same time.

Nedbank Capital will acquire carbon credits from the Rukinga Project for onsale to South African corporates and other players in the global carbon market. The more than 2,5 million tonnes of carbon will primarily be made available through the avoided deforestation of the Kasigau Corridor. Nedbank will retain a portion of the carbon credits for its own carbon-offset requirements, securing its carbon neutral positioning.

Coal-to-charcoal fuel switch – A brick manufacturer in South Africa has replaced coal with biomass from a renewable source, with a resulting carbon benefit of approximately 10 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Nedbank Capital is providing clean development mechanism (CDM) carbon project development skills and funding on risk.
Rehabilitation funds – Nedbank Capital has concluded two agreements to manage the assets of rehabilitation trusts for two mining clients.

Nedbank Capital is also looking at forestry protection projects in Uganda, Liberia and Cameroon.

DRIVING CARBON NEUTRALITY

In 2009 Nedbank Group announced its commitment to carbon neutrality, making it the first South African bank to take this landmark step. Already recognised by the SA Carbon Disclosure Project as the local leader in disclosing our carbon footprint, the move represents the next phase of our climate leadership journey beyond managing and reducing our carbon emission to offsetting our residual carbon footprint. The move to carbon neutrality was a voluntary decision born of an understanding that even companies that are not directly involved in carbon- intensive activities can, and should, limit their adverse impact on the earth.

As part of our carbon neutral journey, Nedbank Group will continue with its awareness, engagement and carbon-reduction initiatives. A Nedbank Group/WWF-SA Carbon Neutral Task Team has been established to inform our carbon-neutral strategy and -offsetting approach.

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