One of the most exciting and challenging aspects of my work is developing plans that will benefit our clients 10 to 20 years from now.
By Boitumelo Sethlatswe,
Head of Sustainability, Standard Bank
READ TIME: 3 MIN
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. Adaptation and resilience are now essential priorities, as climate change impacts are already being felt.
2. It is critical to accurately price and manage climate-related risks.
3. Innovative solutions for adaptation and resilience solutions can be transformative.
Africa is already living with the realities of climate change. Floods, droughts, rising temperatures, and shifting rainfall patterns are no longer future risks – they are present-day challenges. And climate is just one dimension of a broader set of environmental risks, including biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and pollution.
While mitigation – reducing emissions – has long dominated the sustainability agenda, there is growing global recognition that adaptation and resilience must now take centre stage.
For Africa, and for many of our clients, adaptation is not optional, it is essential for survival and long-term prosperity.
At Standard Bank, we are working closely with clients to develop sustainable finance solutions that will help them manage these risks. Internally, we are also building robust climate risk management capabilities to better understand and respond to physical climate risks across sectors and geographies.
Understanding risk to build resilience
To support effective adaptation, we need a granular understanding of the physical risks our clients face. This means collecting and analysing data at asset level, developing models to predict climate hazards, and using scenario analysis to explore potential futures.
We engage clients to understand the measures they are taking to strengthen their resilience – whether that is flood-proof infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, or diversified supply chains.
These conversations are critical to shaping financial solutions that support long-term adaptation.
However, several challenges persist:
• Accurately pricing natural hazards and climate risks
• Limited availability of country-specific and asset-level data
• Lack of standard definitions and taxonomies for adaptation and resilience
• Perceptions that adaptation offers limited financial returns and requires long investment horizons
Despite these hurdles, we cannot afford to wait for perfect data. We must work with what we have – proxies, estimates, and scenarios – while continuously building our capabilities. Our contextual realities and innovation must go hand in hand.
WHAT CLIENTS WORRY ABOUT
Our clients are under increasing pressure from regulators, shareholders, and consumers to demonstrate that they are managing ESG risks and contributing positively to society.
To support them, Standard Bank established a dedicated Sustainable Finance team in Corporate and Investment Banking five years ago. The team and the capability have grown and positioned the bank as a market leader, partnering across business units to structure sustainable finance solutions for clients ranging from multinationals to individuals. These efforts support inclusive, job-creating growth while enabling clients to meet their sustainability goals.
About 1 in 3 companies globally has a climate adaptation plan
Source: S&P Global
“These complex, systemic challenges require deep collaboration between governments, businesses, civil society, and financial institutions.”
A key concern for many clients is how to manage and mitigate climate risks. We are working with high-emissions sectors to support their transition to low-carbon operations, and with sectors such as agriculture and real estate that are exposed to physical risks, to strengthen their resilience to extreme weather, water stress, and other climate-related threats.
Adapting plans for the future
Sustainability is inherently a long-term conversation. But planning 10 to 20 years ahead is difficult in a world where risks are evolving faster than expected. Physical climate impacts are accelerating, and geopolitical shifts have disrupted the momentum of global climate action.
These are complex, systemic challenges that no single actor can solve alone. They require deep collaboration between governments, businesses, civil society, and financial institutions. Progress can be slow and frustrating, especially when regulation is lagging or stakeholders struggle to align. But collaboration remains our most powerful tool.
The innovation imperative
Despite the challenges, there is immense opportunity for innovation in adaptation. From aggregated clean energy solutions to nature-based approaches for climate resilience, from climate-smart agriculture to water-efficient infrastructure, the potential for making an impact is vast.
Across the bank, our teams are working with clients and partners to co-create solutions that are not only commercially viable but also socially and environmentally transformative.