Annual Conference of the Parties (COP) Events
The National Business Initiative (NBI) offers its member companies an international leadership platform on which to demonstrate their climate action and commitments and build the networks necessary for implementation. This platform is the South Africa Pavilion that the NBI hosts in collaboration with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) each year.
The annual Conference of the Parties, or COP, refers to the main decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is UN lead Climate Change Conference that takes place in a different host country each year. It includes representatives of 198 countries that are signatories to the UNFCCC, of which 194 are signatories to the landmark agreement for the mitigation of climate change, the Paris Agreement.
The COP represents the platform to negotiate and assess the effectiveness of measures introduced by the Parties to limit the impacts of climate change and meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the average global temperature increase to well below 2˚C above pre-industrial levels.
South Africa’s pavilion in the Blue Zone, comprises of over 40 business organisations and social partners each year. This is one of the NBI’s most impactful leadership platforms and is a strong platform for our member companies to also demonstrate their leadership in these spaces in the international arena. It is also a space aimed to bring an ambitious and coordinated business voice on climate action for South Africa.
South African business and government stakeholders have recognised both the physical and transition risks presented by climate change to the country’s economy and society. In response, we have, over the past two and a half years, developed well researched and widely consulted decarbonisation pathways to net-zero emissions by 2050 and to a more sustainable, resilient, and socially inclusive society. These pathways are ambitious, and as a developing country characterised by high levels of unemployment, inequality and poverty, as well as low economic growth, we also need to pursue them in a way that is Just and ensures that no one is left behind. To successfully implement a Just Transition in South Africa, there is a need to make bold commitments and raise finance to support them.
COP28
COP27
COP29
NBI secured media coverage reaching 4,390,016 people, generating R1.6 million in ad-value equivalent (AVE). This included:
- 31 pieces of unpaid (interest generated) media coverage over two weeks.
- 3 paid op-eds featured in Business Day, Financial Mail, and Sunday Times.
- A positive sentiment score of 3.5 out of 5, indicating strong audience engagement.
- Over 20 live interviews and media crossings on eNCA, SABC, NewzRoom Afrika, and CNBC Africa.
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98,672 impressions
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1,202 clicks
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Engagement rate of 1.224
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12 sponsor-specific promo videos, highlighting leadership and commitments to sustainability, which collectively received 4,021 views
Social Media Reach
The #COP29 #SAPavilion social media campaign ran from 10-22 November 2025 and featured 233 sponsor-specific banners across LinkedIn and X (Twitter).
COP28
- NBI’S COP28 MEDIA COVERAGE REACHED 65 474 209 PEOPLE (R4 MILLION AVE) SURPASSING COP27: General media coverage that the NBI received for the SA Pavilion reached 13.5 million people more than the previous year (51 888 687 in 2022), generating an additional R1.1 million of ad-value equivalent (up from R3 million AVE in 2022).
- SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN REACHED MILLIONS: The #COP28 social media campaign reached millions online, with NBI’s #SAPavilion campaign comprising over 300 individual social media banners promoting our sponsors, their work, events and quotes from their c-suite executives.
- PROFILING OF CEOs, EXECUTIVES AND LAUNCH EVENT PROFILED LIVE ON SABC, eNCA, NEWSROOM AFRIKA and CNBC TV CHANNELS: First COP that the SA Pavilion and delegates were featured 4 TV stations. The COP28 Launch Event was live on our national TV stations with additional daily live crossings, broadcasts and interviews with the #SA delegation live from the SA Pavilion.
- HOSTING 59 EVENTS IN JUST 10 DAYS: Together with our sponsors, partners and a range of key stakeholders, we once again broke the record for most events hosted at the SA COP Pavilion, bringing together diverse stakeholders from the public and private sectors, youth representatives, civil society, NGOs, academia, and even ANC Chairperson Hon. Gwede Mantashe, who engaged in a Just Transition energy debate as an audience member.
- 7953 PEOPLE WATCHED OUR EVENTS OVER 10 DAYS (LIVE AND ONLINE): We had hundreds of visitors attending events in person at the COP28 Pavilion, with 1685 on Zoom and 5268 views on our YouTube channel. This is over double the number from COP27, with YouTube views at 2346 in 2022. This highlights an increased awareness and interest in the SA Pavilion events.
COP27
The pavilion at COP27 demonstrated South Africa’s Just Transition and climate commitments through showcasing action taken by business, youth, labour, civil society and government
- VISIT BY PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA: Visit to the Pavilion by President Cyril Ramaphosa (watch the video here), as well as esteemed Ministers Ms Barbara Creecy (Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries) and Dr Naledi Pandor (Minister of International Relations and Cooperation).
- LAUNCH OF THE JUST ENERGY TRANSITION INVESTMENT PLAN (JET-IP): President Cyril Ramaphosa successfully launched the government’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) at the World Leader’s Summit, hosted in the first week of COP27. A number of JET-IP conversations were hosted at the pavilion.
- LARGEST BUSINESS DELEGATION TO A UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE: The South Africa pavilion at COP27 saw the biggest business delegation to date, including the largest delegation of CEOs, Board Chairs, Managing Directors, Vice Presidents and Sustainability Executives. This afforded a truly unique setting for hosting crucial conversations and providing key networking and opportunities for strategic conversations to take place. Hear what our sponsors had to say in this COP27 Pavilion Journey
- HOSTING 56 EVENTS IN JUST 8 DAYS: Together we hosted a record number of events for a South Africa COP Pavilion, bringing together a range of key stakeholders who also participated in events, including several youth, civil society, academia, and labour representatives (including COSATU). See the full schedule of South Africa Pavilion Events.
- 5,870 PEOPLE WATCHED OUR EVENTS IN 8 DAYS: We had ~1,000 visitors attending the COP27 Pavilion events in person, with 2,524 on Zoom and 2,346 watching the live streaming on our YouTube channel. At any one time, the Pavilion had between 50 to 140 visitors from South Africa and around the world utilising the space and facilities.
- NBI’S MEDIA COVERAGE REACHED 51,888,687 PEOPLE: General media coverage that the NBI received for the SA Pavilion reached 51,888,687 people and amounted to over R3 million of ad-value equivalent (AVE).
- LAUNCH EVENT PROFILED LIVE ON SABC & eNCA TV CHANNELS: The COP27 Launch Event was shown live on national TV stations: SABC and eNCA in South Africa. In addition, there were daily broadcasts and interviews at our pavilion by a variety of local and international media. Overall, there were 21 TV/radio broadcasts, reaching over 49 million people and resulting in R1,790 293 (AVE).
- SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN REACHED 975 000 PEOPLE ONLINE: The NBI’s month long #NBICOP27 social media campaign reached 975 000 people online with 674 post mentions. This massive campaign comprised 220 social media banner designs and copy, amounting to 466 items of user generated content.
Here are what some of our key sponsors and stakeholders had to say about the South African COP27 Pavilion, as profiled in our COP27 video series:
“We have been working with the private sector for many years now, this partnership around this Pavilion goes back five or six years with the National Business Initiative. And I’m happy to say that this year is the biggest participation we have head by a business delegation. And what you can see all around me, are actors from all over the world, showing off the contribution they are making to the green technological revolution.”
Minister Barbara Creecy (Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries)
“The Pavilion is very important for South Africa to represent itself. We are one of the global leaders in the Just Energy Transition initiative. I think representing ourselves is very important to demonstrate our flagship projects and also to get the attention of lenders and prospective lenders, so there is a clear business case to have a South African Pavilion. The design of the Pavilion is really clean and fresh, it’s open and inviting, we’ve seen a lot of people wander in, participate in discussions and become more interested in using the space and facilities.”
Andre de Ruyter (Previous Eskom CEO)
“At COP27, the South African Pavilion is THE place to hang out. There’s always a buzz, there are lots of people coming and going and it’s a very clever combination of meeting space and events […] so it’s got just the right combination of spaces to make it the perfect place to meet and connect.”
Dr Crispian Olver (Executive Director – Presidential Climate Commission (PCC))
“This is the fifth time that Government and the NBI have jointly run a pavilion. I would say that not only has it been the biggest pavilion, but it has also been the best. We have had a fabulous set of sponsors from across South African business. We’ve had a large number of CEOs and senior business leaders at the pavilion. And we have been able to put on a series of events that have brought together a wide range of diverse stakeholders.”
Joanne Yawitch (NBI CEO)
Key COP27 South African Pavilion Resources
- NBI’s Summary COP27 Report and Mailer:
Mailer: Reflecting on COP27
- NBI’s COP27 Op-Ed Series:
- Business Day: South Africans will see real change soon, due to the Just Energy Transition Partnership
- Mail and Guardian: Post COP27 Outlook: South Africa needs to get going on the transition to a low carbon economy