Tag: sustainability

Across East Africa, momentum is building around grid digitisation. Smart meters, automation and AI-enabled energy management are increasingly positioned as viable ways to establish efficient, sustainable and resilient energy provision. But there is a fundamental reality that cannot be overlooked - digitisation cannot compensate for gaps in basic infrastructure.

What we wear every day is the result of a global supply chain that few people ever see. That chain often begins far earlier than most realise and increasingly raises questions about the materials used to make our clothes. In many cases, it starts - believe it or not - in a forest plantation. Not in an abstract sense, but quite literally. Wood grown in South African forest plantations is processed into dissolving wood pulp. Producers export that pulp, and manufacturers convert it into fibre elsewhere. They eventually turn that fibre into fabric

For years, many businesses have treated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as another compliance requirement that could wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow has arrived. Enforcement under Section 18 of the National Environmental Management Waste Act is now a reality. Organisations that continue to ignore their obligations are exposing themselves to regulatory action, financial penalties and reputational damage.

Imagine this: It’s 7:30 a.m. in Nairobi, and your phone buzzes with an alert from the treasury dashboard. Overnight, a sudden Foreign Exchange (FX) shock in East Africa has threatened to erode your continent-wide supply chain margins by 5 percent. Yet, your factory in Lagos has already executed an automated hedge that caps the risk at 1 percent.

The Middle East conflict continues to destabilise an already volatile global economy. It is driving energy price shocks, inflationary pressure and heightened uncertainty for developing economies, particularly those exposed to energy and currency volatility. In South Africa, economic shockwaves continue to drive up fuel prices, strain energy systems and push the cost of living beyond reach.

Across Africa’s food and feed processing sectors, sustainability is increasingly moving to the centre of operational decision-making. Importantly, this shift is not being driven by environmental commitments alone. Instead, many businesses are driving it through more immediate priorities. These priorities include operational efficiency, profitability, resilience and long-term competitiveness.

South Africa’s office sector has started 2026 on a strong footing. According to the Rode Report for Q4 2025, published by Galetti Corporate Real Estate, the country’s national decentralised office vacancy rate fell year-on-year from 12.5% to 11.7%. Meanwhile, Grade-A office rentals increased by 3.5%. Total rental growth for 2025 averaged around 4%.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) discussions in South African boards generally default to carbon, community impact and governance process. While those remain essential, they do not tell the full story of organisational sustainability. A business may define sustainability narrowly. However, it still fails if it cannot protect data and recover quickly from cyber disruption in a digital economy.

In South Africa’s water-scarce regions, one of the most effective ways to restore water is also one of the least visible: clearing invasive alien vegetation. In the Western Cape, where the threat of “Day Zero” once brought the province to the brink, communities are working on the ground to restore natural water systems by removing invasive plants that consume significantly more water than indigenous species.

While South Africa committed to significantly decarbonise its energy mix by 2030 in 2021, progress started slowly. However, momentum increased at the start of this year. Both President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address and the recent National Budget placed strong emphasis on energy reform. At the same time, the Department of Electricity and Energy has announced a timeline for wholesale market phasing.