Boardman is the Chair of the Africa Task Force of the Prince?s Rainforest Project, which brings together African government leaders, NGOs and investors to discuss African solutions to this imminent problem through protecting the continent?s forests.

Another first for the Nedbank Group in addressing climate change was the formalisation of their Climate Change Position Statement, which is supported by clearly defined targets for the reduction in usage of essential natural resources and which have been included in group wide performance scorecard measurements.

From a measurement and reduction point of view Nedbank already has many of the required carbon emission checks in place. It measures its annual carbon emissions across its 13 head office and regional office buildings. Between 2007 and 2008, effective reductions in emissions of seven percent per fulltime employee (FTE) and of eight percent per m? of occupied floor space were measured. Within the reporting boundary, CO? emissions for the Nedbank Group amounted to 131 309.97 metric tonnes in 2008.

It is envisaged that the carbon neutral programme will first focus primarily on reducing the carbon footprint of these 13 buildings, before being rolled out to all other buildings and branches within the group.

WWF to give advice

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), Nedbank?s conservation partner, will advise the bank on the execution of its carbon neutrality strategy. Climate Change Programme manager at WWF, Richard Worthington, reflects, "The WWF supports and applauds Nedbank?s initiative as the first step in becoming part of the transformation to a low carbon economy. However, offsetting of emissions is a complex field, requiring rigorous assessment of the full impacts. The WWF is committed to working in partnership with Nedbank to support a robust approach to achieving optimal benefits of this carbon neutral initiative."

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