Nedbank Group Limited is taking up Growthpoint Properties’ renewable energy certificates (RECs) in an initiative enabling tenants to offset electricity emissions in leased buildings.

The banking group will offset its Scope 2 emissions across 26 branches located in Growthpoint-owned shopping malls and offices across five provinces including La Lucia Mall in KZN, Waterfall Mall in North West, Woodmead Retail Park in Gauteng, Walmer Park in the Eastern Cape, and The Constantia Village in the Western Cape – collectively spanning over 8 200m² of retail space.

Scope 2 emissions are typically the hardest, if not impossible, for businesses to reduce in multi-tenanted leased premises without support from landlords, says the REIT. Tenants can reduce their consumption but cannot control the electricity supply in these buildings with national electricity mostly coal fired. Growthpoint’s REC initiative addresses these gaps for the first time in SA by certifying the clean solar power generated at its properties and offering verified RECs to tenants.

“Access to RECs through Growthpoint gives us an immediate, auditable way to reduce Scope 2 emissions for our branches in their buildings. This removes a big barrier and supports our long-term climate goals, especially where it is too complex to wheel or generate renewable electrons,” comments Charl de Kock, Nedbank Executive Head of Group Business Services.

“Nedbank achieved a 30% energy reduction target two years ahead of schedule. In 2024, our electricity use stayed below 97 000 MWh, and renewable energy reached 10% of total consumption. We have been carbon-neutral since 2010, making us the only major bank with this track record.”

Growthpoint Properties has grown one of the country’s largest Small Scale Embedded Generator (SSEG) renewable energy fleets and linked it to transparent certification frameworks. It has a solar fleet of 80 rooftop systems providing 61.2MWp capacity with plans to commission 7MWp of additional solar capacity by mid-2026.

Alongside its on-site rooftop solar fleet, Growthpoint launched its wheeled renewable energy initiative e-co₂ in October 2025, supported by a landmark 195GWh power purchase agreement (PPA) with Etana Energy for a sustainable mix of renewable hydro, wind and solar electricity.

The first renewable energy generation project to come online as part of the PPA is the Boston Hydroelectric Plant in Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme near Clarens, a new R390 million development by Serengeti Energy, with an operational lifetime of over 40 years. Growthpoint has acquired a 30% stake in the plant and secured exclusive access to all the approximately 30GWh of renewable electricity generated by the plant annually.