StanChart greens Botswana

Standard Chartered is committed to cutting carbon emissions by as much as 15 percent in every way possible, including using renewable energy such as solar, Chief Executive, Mpho Masupe said earlier in the week.

The bank is a trend setter among peers when it comes to using solar energy within their operations. Solar energy is friendlier to the environment than other sources such as coal, which is widely used in Botswana. The bank’s main mall branch is solar powered. This is in addition to the lender’s energy saving Express Banking Centre in Lobatse. “We have now started thinking about how to impact the communities around us. We specifically wanted to ensure that our communities not only benefit from our sustainability efforts, but more than that, that we leave a footprint that will live beyond all of us sitting here today,” said Masupe.

He was speaking at a Gaborone primary school where they kick- started an initiative of planting 12 500 indigenous trees in a bid to ‘ green Botswana’ and cut the impact of global warming. Botswana government has signed up to the Paris Agreement which calls for reduction of carbon emissions by 15% by the year 2030. “This aligns closely to the Bank’s bold stand of ensuring that our Banking footprint reaches net zero by the 2050.” He stressed.

‘ Our aim is to Green Botswana. Greening Botswana can only be done with indigenous trees, and as you are about to hear from our experts, the value of our indigenous trees cannot be overemphasized’