“Sanlam Investments has been financing investments in renewable energy, water, waste, oceans and climate finance for some years now, proving that environmental sustainability and economic growth are not in conflict, but in partnership. We recognise that meaningful change requires collective action through strategic partnerships. Every investment, every solution we implement creates lasting returns for ecosystems, communities and investors.”
- Carl Roothman – CEO of Sanlam Investment Group
Africa stands at the frontline of climate change and at the frontier of opportunity. Across the continent, renewable energy, blue economy innovation and circular industries are redefining what growth means.
At Sanlam Investments, we are financing Africa’s transition. We believe sustainability and prosperity are not opposites, but partners. Every rand we deploy pursues a double dividend: measurable financial returns and regenerative impact for people and planet.
We call this the Return on Nature – a future where restoring the planet powers humanity’s rise. Because when we invest in the planet, we invest in people too.
At Sanlam Investments, the Return on Breath is more than clean air, it is clean energy.
Through our partnership with Enel Green Power RSA, we’re co-financing one of Southern Africa’s largest wind initiatives: the Impofu Cluster near Oyster Bay in the Eastern Cape. Once complete, it will generate around 1.1 GW of renewable electricity every year, making it one of the region’s largest wind-powered facilities.
This project is already shaping South Africa’s energy transition:
The Impofu Cluster shows how the Return on Breath delivers not just clean energy, but cleaner futures – for our people, our planet and our economy.
The Return on Light is more than solar power; it’s access, ownership and shared prosperity.
Through our partnership with Wetility Finance (Pty) Ltd, we are ensuring the energy transition includes everyone.
By making solar inclusive, Wetility proves that clean energy can light up both homes and futures. This is the Return on Light.
The Return on Blue is more than ports, fisheries or coastal tourism.
Africa’s blue economy begins inland; in rivers, wetlands and aquifers that sustain life and anchor economies. South Africa’s freshwater ecosystems are the veins of the real economy. They buffer floods, recharge groundwater, support agriculture and enable both human and industrial activity. When they fail, everything else follows.
Through our Blue Finance Strategy, Sanlam Investments is reshaping how capital serves these critical systems. Originally centred on ocean-linked investments, the strategy now embraces water infrastructure as a core pillar, from digital leakage detection to wetlands that mitigate floods and revive biodiversity.
We are deploying capital through impact-linked bonds, blended finance mechanisms, and equity in water-smart innovation. Each investment secures access, restores ecosystems, and strengthens resilience.
Finance can no longer be a spectator. It must move upstream, shaping systems, not just returns.
This is the Return on Blue.
The Return we believe in is measured in more than profit. It is measured in futures unlocked through catalytic finance. Through Climate Fund Managers (CFM), co-owned by Sanlam Infraworks and Dutch development bank FMO, we are proving how blended finance can transform markets once considered too high-risk for private capital.
In 2023, Djibouti launched its first-ever wind farm: the 60MW Red Sea Power Project near Lake Ghoubbet
Before Red Sea Power, Djibouti’s energy was costly, limited and heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and hydropower. Today, one project has shifted the nation’s trajectory, proving the catalytic role of blended finance in emerging economies.
This is how we turn risk into resilience, and capital into change.
This is the Return we believe in.
The Return on Life is the promise that water brings – survival, health and hope.
Alongside the Red Sea Power wind farm in Djibouti, a community development programme is addressing the region’s water crisis. Since 2020, the project has delivered 80,000 litres of safe drinking water every week to two rural villages.
Before Red Sea Power, Djibouti’s energy was costly, limited and heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and hydropower. Today, one project has shifted the nation’s trajectory, proving the catalytic role of blended finance in emerging economies.
This is how we turn risk into resilience, and capital into change.
This is the Return we believe in.
In 2023, a solar-powered desalination plant was added, providing 800 residents with 40 litres of clean water per person per day. The impact reaches beyond hydration:
Every drop proves that when we secure water, we secure futures.
This is the Return on Life.
As Title Sponsor of AGES 2026, Sanlam Investments is leading the conversation on Africa’s sustainable transition.
Main Stage: Hear our perspective on financing the future.
Investor Dialogues: Join curated discussions on unlocking green capital. (add our speakers)
Stand Activation: Explore interactive displays and impact stories across Light, Life, Breath, Blue and Second Chances. See how capital becomes renewal.
The Return on Nature isn’t an idea. It’s a commitment you can measure – Africa’s future written in capital and courage. It’s where investment sparks renewal, and where the world’s next chapter of growth begins.
At Sanlam Investments, we’re building tomorrow’s economies – green, blue and beyond.
Because when nature thrives, humanity rises.
And this is the return we believe in.
Fill in the form below and our team will help you with information about the event, and answer any questions you have.
Sanlam Investments recently financed the construction and operation of the 128MW Oya Energy Hybrid Facility, a ground-breaking greenfield project which combines solar and wind energy, complemented by a battery energy storage system, as a single dispatchable renewable energy power plant.
Oya Energy is the largest hybrid energy project of its kind on the continent, located on the border of the Northern and Western Cape, an area with a high concentration of solar and wind resources. The combination of these technologies on a single project site, allows the power plant to produce energy continuously even after sunset or when the wind is not blowing.
155MW of Solar Photovoltaic (“Solar PV”) capacity, 86.4MW of wind capacity and 92MW battery storage capacity will be installed and operated by an automated plant controller, to create a virtual power plant. Solar PV will supply the bulk of the renewable energy during the day, supplemented by wind energy, while the battery storage system will be charged by excess solar PV generation during the day and wind generation in the evening and early morning.
Africa's Green Economy Summit connects industry professionals and organisations to information and each other in a carefully curated live environment. Its purpose is to support in mobilising investments for green projects to scale up and industrialisation, which will have a significant impact on environmental sustainability and economic growth.
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