Centre for Sustainability Investing (CSI)

ABOUT THE CENTRE

Driving finance sector innovation for sustainable development in Africa

The Centre for Sustainability Investing was established in 2003 by the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC), with support from the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Sustainable Financial Markets Facility. The Centre’s mandate is to drive finance sector innovation for sustainable development in Africa. The Centre is making strides toward this goal by examining how financial product innovations, market mechanisms and regulatory structures can more effectively contribute to Africa’s sustainable development.

Sustainability Investing is investment that contributes to society’s present and future social, environmental and economic needs while achieving sustained and long-term financial returns. Sustainable investments are based on comprehensive analysis of financial performance alongside social, economic and environmental performance.

WHY SUSTAINABILITY INVESTING?

The resources that flow through the finance sector provide the life-line for economic activities worldwide. Any form of economic development, whether sustainable or not, must be financed through these financial markets. Increasingly, the process of financing business activities is being regarded as a vehicle that can stimulate firms to control their broader environmental, social and economic impacts. At the same time, the inaccessibility of financial services by both individuals and micro enterprises is a fundamental impediment to progress towards sustainable development in Africa. As such, the finance sector has tremendous influence on the move to a sustainable economy, through their role in allocating financial capital between various economic activities and between different groups within society.

To date, the allocation of capital has disproportionately favoured unsustainable business practices – particularly in emerging economies such as those in Africa. The fundamental question is how can we change the nature of these investments so that they more aptly reflect the sustainable development requirements of Africa? The Centre for Sustainability Investing is responding to this sustainability imperative by working with a multitude of stakeholders to identify practical solutions for finance institutions, government and civil society that will contribute to the goals of sustainable development.

WORKING WITH THE CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABILITY INVESTING

Emerging as a leading African organisation in research, advocacy and capacity-building on sustainability issues relevant to Africa’s finance sector, the Centre is building its capacity to affect real change in institutional behaviour and practice. Encouragingly, there is growing interest from the finance sector and from broader forums interested in Africa’s development, in the potential that exists for innovative finance vehicles to drive sustainable development in Africa.

From this momentum, there is also growing interest in the work of the Centre for Sustainability Investing. On-going activities undertaken by the Centre for Sustainability Investing include:

Research: The Centre conducts cutting-edge research that focuses on finance sector innovations that contribute to Africa’s sustainable development. This research has focused on innovative financial products, market mechanisms and regulatory structures and the opportunities that exist for these vehicles to promote sustainability in Africa. From this research, the Centre for Sustainability Investing has an important knowledge base to draw on and numerous case studies of finance sector innovations from across Africa and internationally. If you are interested in receiving the Centre’s publications please contact us for hard copies at csi@aiccafrica.org or click on the links below for pdf versions.

Advocacy: The Centre publishes a bi-monthly communication that reaches a growing network of finance professionals, international experts, and civil society organisations from Africa and internationally. This communication provides critical analysis on salient issues related to sustainability finance including international trends, emerging challenges and opportunities in Africa, new innovations and featured case studies. The publication often features guest writers in order to showcase a variety of perspectives that will generate discussion and debate on these crucial issues. If you are interested in receiving this publication please contact us at csi@aiccafrica.org. The Centre for Sustainability Investing has also provided key commentary and analysis to a multitude of platforms including international conferences, strategic regional and pan-African forums as well as in key publications and media outlets.

Capacity-Building: The Centre for Sustainability Investing facilitates capacity-building in Africa’s finance sector through a number of initiatives including hosting sector-based workshops, facilitating training, developing guidelines and showcasing best practice case studies. The Centre has worked in partnership with a network of organisations to facilitate capacity-building in the finance sector including the African Task Force of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, the University of South Africa Centre for Corporate Citizenship , and the International Finance Corporations Sustainable Financial Markets Facility. If you are interested in receiving a schedule of upcoming events or participating in the Centre’s training activities please contact us at csi@aiccafrica.org.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Pan-African Series on Finance Sector Innovations for Sustainable Development

The Centre for Sustainability Investing is currently working with a number of partners across Africa in facilitating the pan-African series on Finance Sector Innovations for Sustainable Development. This pan-African series consists of targeted events introducing sustainability finance to key players within Africa’s finance sector, building on the findings of the Sustainability Banking in Africa Report. The event has three components: a CEO briefing component, a workshop component and a site visit component. The purpose of these events is to create platforms where the Sustainability Banking in Africa Report can be used as a basis for discussion, debate and dialogue and begin to act as a broker for subsequent action towards progress on sustainability finance issues. The Finance Sector Innovations for Sustainable Development events will also make an important contribution to knowledge-sharing, capacity building and advocacy in this realm across the continent.

Read the summary from the first series event held in Malawi in June 2005, Banking for the Unbanked: the Business Case for Malawi.

Access the presentations from the Malawi event on Banking for the Unbanked: the Business Case for Malawi.

Investors Guide on HIV/AIDS

The AICC Centre for Sustainability Investing is working with the South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (SABCOHA) towards the development of an Investors Guide on HIV/AIDS in South Africa. This joint initiative emerged as a result of a memorandum of understanding between the two organisations in seeking to strengthen the capacity of the private sector in South Africa in respect of mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS. This project aims to provide investors with a practical tool, based on corporate best practice and devised through multi-stakeholder engagement, to assist them in assessing the impacts of HIV/AIDS on business performance and ultimately on their investments. While identifying the risks that HIV/AIDS poses to investors, the guide will also consider the opportunities and benefits that can accrue through effective workplace programmes and macro-level initiatives to address the impacts of the disease on workers, managers, markets and communities.

National Treasury Sustainability Banking and Investing Roundtable

National Treasury, the AICC Centre for Sustainability Investing, the UNEP Finance Initiative Africa Task Force and the Banking Association of South Africa are jointly convening a one day high level roundtable bringing together key stakeholders representing: government, banking and financial services institutions, multilateral organisations and the broader policy community to address the issue of sustainability banking and investing. The key objectives of the roundtable are to:

• provide a platform where government and the South African finance community can engage a range of key stakeholders involved in issues relating to sustainability finance;
• facilitate an opportunity for the South Africa finance sector to share current good practice in this regard, and gauge the relevance of international trends to the local context;
• allow the finance sector to begin to look at sustainability issues in light of developments subsequent to the launch of the Finance Sector Charter and how these can be adapted to fit a broader international understanding of sustainability banking and investment;
• afford South Africa the opportunity to explore its competitive advantage in attracting and channelling international sustainability financing both in the African context and on the wider international stage; and
• to initiate the potential development of a set of voluntary sustainability principles that accord with the interests of the South African finance community but which are in line with international norms.

For final dates and further information please contact us at csi@aiccafrica.org or register to receive the AICC newsletter for regular updates on all of AICC’s activities.

South African Socially Responsible Investment Promotion Campaign

The Centre for Sustainability Investing has identified the need for a socially responsible investing (SRI) campaign that will bring together investment decision makers including asset managers, financial advisors and other related organisations, under one banner to illustrate their collective commitment to driving SRI in South Africa. The development of a South African socially responsible investment promotion campaign is driven by the demonstrated need for awareness-raising of what SRI is, how it relates to the South African context and why SRI has the potential to position South Africa as a global leader in financial sector innovation. The concept of a SRI campaign also emerged as a result of engagement between the AICC CSI and organisations who are leaders in SRI in South Africa. This idea was first presented at a SRI Conference convened by Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) in partnership with Community Growth Funds (CGF) in May 2005. As a result of the enthusiasm around the potential of using a campaign model in South Africa from key stakeholders at this event, the AICC CSI is engaging with these organisations on the opportunity for collaboration.

Sustainable Finance Competitive Business Advantage Workshop

The AICC Centre for Sustainability Investing has partnered with the IFC Sustainable Financial Markets Facility to deliver their Competitive Business Advantage training to finance professionals from across Africa. The focus of this training is on environmental and social risk management for financial institutions in the emerging markets. The objective of the course is to help financial institutions understand why and how to manage the environmental and social issues associated with their lending and investment operations. The most recent workshop was held on February 28th, March 1st and 2nd in Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop attracted financial institution professionals from across Africa including participants from Mozambique, Tunisia, Uganda, Angola, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa. The workshop also featured international guests and speakers from Brazil, Singapore and the United States.

For highlights from the most recent workshop please see the March issue of the AICC newsletter.

If you would like to receive information about upcoming workshops scheduled in Africa, please send an e-mail to csi@aiccafrica.org.

PUBLICATIONS

Sustainability Banking in Africa Report

The Sustainability Banking in Africa Report was produced by the AICC in partnership with the African Task Force of UNEP FI and supported by the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Sustainable Financial Markets Facility, Finmark Trust, Nedbank and Deutsche Bank. The objective of the research was to highlight the pivotal role that the finance sector can play in contributing to Africa’s sustainable development while also highlighting the innovations that are taking place on the continent. The research focused on five country case studies: South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal. The final report was launched in September 2004 during AICC bi-annual convention at a function kindly hosted by Nedbank.

Socially Responsible Investment in South Africa Report

In 2001, the AICC published a report on SRI in South Africa. The report was well received and, as such, AICC completed research for an updated version of the report. The 2004 version was also launched in September 2004 during the AICC Convention. The objective of the SRI report was to stimulate debate around SRI and its value to South Africa, to raise awareness of SRI and to encourage its expansion in South Africa.

Centre for Sustainability Investing Brochure

For an overview of the Centre for Sustainability Investing and its activities please download the pdf version.

African Corporate Sustainability Forum | Centre for Sustainability Investing | Competitiveness & Innovation | ReportCom