Banking on sustainability

Banking on sustainability

‘Rhino Lifeline’ is one of the many ways Investec is banking on sustainability. (Photo Credit: Fortunate M. Phaka)

Sustainable development is a term that is not easy to define or interpret. For this reason sustainability is also a vague concept. At one extreme you have weak sustainability which allows for a trade-off between the environment and economic growth. At the other extreme there is strong sustainability which advocates for natural stocks to remain constant at the expense of economic development, and in between you have a mixture of the two extremes in varying degrees. The ambiguity of these concepts allows them to be widely accepted but it also means that they can be used for unethical economic gain. The ambiguity associated with sustainable development deters some corporations and they continue with business as usual leaving environmental concern to others. Other corporations are intent on contributing to sustainable development but they are going about it the wrong way. Then you get some corporations, for example Investec, which have figured out the best way to go about achieving sustainable development regardless of the ambiguities.

The best way being to take notes from nature since nature is all about sustainable development through long-term planning or thinking. Life on earth today is the result of millions of years of evolution; an epitome of the term ‘lifetime investment’. This is a form sustainable development since it is sustained development of life on earth through discarding what does not work and fine-tuning what works. Investec have learnt well from nature and perhaps being an investment bank gives them the advantage of long-term thinking when some corporates make the mistake of thinking short or medium-term when it comes to sustainability. When corporations run sustainability projects they often focus solely on nature forgetting how everything is interconnected. Having a healthy environment is pointless when people interacting with the environment don’t know how to take care for it.

A lot of money is lost as people continue to degrade the environment while more funds are put into sustaining it. A lot of such projects often just rehabilitate ecosystems and leave them with no plans of maintaining their integrity going forward. Investec has done things a little differently. In addition to their efforts towards conservation their sustainability project also includes sponsoring education, recreation and eco-friendly businesses. Through various initiatives they are working to ensure a healthy environment that will be looked after by people with healthy minds and bodies, and businesses that respect nature’s limits. People are the single biggest threat to the environment and at the same time we are the only beings capable of neutralising this threat. Investing in the sustainable or long-term development of both people and the environment is the best way to ensure sustainability and lessen our threat to the environment.

Investing in people helps them be better equipped to provide for themselves and also use their resources more responsibly while also being conscious of the Earth’s limited resources. Through investment in conservation the environment is healthier and this health is more likely to be maintained as increasing numbers of people are becoming environmentally conscious. Through investment in green business harmful emissions and overexploitation are reduced through innovation and use of renewable energy sources. In the long run it all works out to a better world for all beings, not just people, and also makes for a bankable solution to environmental problems.

– Fortunate M. Phaka

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