The NBI, in this work area, has focussed on financial innovation in the context of development, and especially in the context of South Africa (although we believe much of the research is relevant for other developing countries).
In 2013 we produced two reports on barriers to low carbon finance which identified a range of barriers across categories of policy, the financial services sector structure, skills and capacity and fund design. One of our key findings was that project developers often misunderstand the relationship between risk and capital and approached the wrong sources of funding for their stage of project development. As a result we also produced a low carbon project primer, which was intended to act as a guide to finance for project developers.
The barriers related to structural aspects of the financial services sector, identified in our 2013 work then spawned further work on the structure of South Africa’s financial services sector as it related to development. Furthermore we believe that trying to have a conversation about development and finance at a macro level is less productive than focussing on specific development opportunities. We then launched a project looking at investment opportunities, the finance sector and the economy which we released in 2016.
Fundamental to this work was developing several conversation frameworks for exploring a project finance and economic principles framework that we use to assess the alignment of economic and development policy.
CDP Climate Change
Since 2007, the NBI has been the local partner to the CDP. From its initiation the CDP has successfully managed to push climate change into the mainstream business thinking. Consequently, the CDP remains the global standard for measurement and reporting of climate change information and the biggest repository of greenhouse gas emission information from the business sector.
We Mean Business
We Mean Business is a coalition of organizations working with thousands of the world’s most influential businesses and investors. These businesses recognize that the transition to a low carbon economy is the only way to secure sustainable economic growth and prosperity for all. To accelerate this transition, We Mean Business have formed a common platform to amplify the business voice, catalyze bold climate action by all, and promote smart policy frameworks.
Climate and Sustainable Investment
This project aims to enhance the South African financial sector’s ESG analytical services: to improve governance, skills, and awareness in the financial sector and to provide access to tools and data that will lead to better investment decision-making.
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.
Climate Pathways and a Just Transition for South Africa
In response to the growing threat of climate change, countries around the world are figuring out how to decarbonize their economies, in line with recommendations from the scientific community, to net zero emissions by 2050.
Garth Barnes
Alexa Brown-Robinson
