Absa has firmly established itself as a continental leader in sustainable finance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy. The bank’s performance in 2024 reflected a strategic shift from volume-driven targets toward deeper, more measurable impact.
Last year, Absa executed a record 50 sustainable finance transactions, a 32% increase year-on-year. These included South Africa’s first sustainability-linked corporate bond with an upward-only ratchet mechanism. Meanwhile, the amount of sustainable finance loans arranged rose by 26% year-on-year, with a strong focus on renewables, affordable housing, green buildings, energy access for SMEs and gender-lens financing.
This progress enabled Absa to reach its 2021-25 R100 billion ($5.6 billion) sustainable finance target a full year ahead of schedule, prompting a strategic reset focused on quality of impact. “What’s really dangerous is that in chasing big numbers, we fail to meet impact,” says Heidi Barends, Absa’s head of sustainable finance. “We are focusing on an impactful approach – to deploy money intentionally in ways that move the needle.”
Absa’s innovation extended beyond origination. It partnered with the IFC to incentivise green building adoption in South Africa through concessional funding and advisory support, issued green auto loans in Mauritius and supported the development of sustainable bond markets in Botswana and Tanzania. Elsewhere, business banking teams enabled SME access to clean energy in South Africa, with R3.6 billion in outstanding loans for related projects.
What sets Absa apart is the depth and breadth of its ESG engagement … and its conviction that sustainable transformation must be owned locally to be effective
The bank also made significant progress embedding ESG across its operations. In 2024, it delivered over 40,000 foundational ESG training sessions, launched a group sustainability academy, and held greenwashing awareness workshops for more than 650 staff. ESG risk approval was systematised across all markets via dedicated governance structures and in-country ESG risk specialists.
Its climate strategy took shape through fossil-fuel exposure targets, sector-specific decarbonisation pathways and a post-2025 disclosure roadmap aligned with International Financial Reporting Standards S1/S2 and the Global Reporting Initiative. These initiatives are underpinned by data tools such as the Basel Climate Risk Programme and the ESG Data Programme, ensuring readiness for evolving global reporting expectations.
What sets Absa apart is the depth and breadth of its ESG engagement – from capital markets to consumer banking, from South Africa to frontier African economies – and its conviction that sustainable transformation must be owned locally to be effective. ESG champions are now in place across all Absa markets, supported by continent-wide capacity-building efforts.
As Barends put it: “We want to go from where we are today, to the more circular, just economy we want to be part of tomorrow. That’s the agenda we want to push.”
