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Carbon Disclosure SA: Leading a profitable path to decarbonisation in Africa?

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – December, 2025 – In an exclusive interview with Elodie Ashdown, Investment Project Lead at VUKA Group, Dr. Marco Lotz, a seasoned engineer and Chief Sustainability Officer of Carbon Disclosure SA (CDSA), offered a compelling vision for transforming environmental responsibility into economic opportunity. Dr. Lotz articulated CDSA’s mission to enable businesses to profit by “polluting less,” a strategy he believes is critical for Africa’s green transition and for attracting vital investment.

“My job is based on how I make money by polluting less,” Dr. Lotz stated, encapsulating the philosophy driving Carbon Disclosure SA. This simple yet profound statement highlights the core of CDSA’s work: converting environmental liabilities into financially viable assets, particularly within the nascent but rapidly growing carbon markets.

The genesis of a green mission

Dr. Lotz’s journey to the forefront of carbon accounting is rooted in a desire to align his professional life with his personal values. An engineer with a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence and a PhD in, he initially found himself working in sectors that often grappled with environmental impact. This experience ignited a passion to reconcile economic activity with ecological stewardship.

Dr. Lotz articulated the challenge of conventional industrial growth, noting how ‘increased output often correlates with a larger environmental footprint,’ a scenario that created a significant professional and ethical ‘disconnect.’ He expressed his dedication to ‘aligning his professional endeavours with his deeply held environmental principles.’ This personal drive underscores CDSA’s commitment to creating solutions that offer genuine environmental benefits alongside robust financial returns.”

● Calculating Carbon Footprints: CDSA meticulously quantifies carbon footprints. Dr. Lotz calls this a “crucial diagnostic process,” providing “essential data” to establish a baseline for strategic environmental management.
● Strategic Storytelling and Narrative Positioning: Beyond raw data, CDSA transforms carbon metrics into compelling narratives. Dr. Lotz stresses “narrative development” as investors “demand clear understanding of [data’s] implications and strategic actions,” crucial for stringent markets.
● Carbon Tax Specialisation: CDSA navigates South Africa’s domestic carbon tax. Dr. Lotz highlights substantial payments by companies, showing how CDSA transforms these liabilities into financial savings and cleaner operations.
● Aggregating Carbon Credits: CDSA aggregates GHG reductions from smaller entities like solar PV. Dr. Lotz explains their “aggregation model” generates credits, reducing tax liability for high-emitters and incentivizing broader solar adoption.

Decoding the African carbon market realities

The African carbon market, while possessing immense potential, is not without its complexities. Dr. Lotz highlighted several critical aspects:

● Clear Regulatory Landscape: While some African regions face ambiguity, Dr. Lotz affirmed, “Within the South African domestic carbon tax framework, sufficient regulatory clarity exists to actively pursue carbon credits,” offering a stable investment foundation.
● Demand Outstrips Supply: South Africa presents a significant market opportunity where demand for carbon tax-reducing credits “currently outpaces supply by a factor of 12 to 15,” signaling a robust, undersupplied market.
● The High Cost of Integrity: Generating verifiable carbon credits under international standards is capital-intensive and time-consuming. Dr. Lotz noted, “achieving accreditation under international standards entails significant upfront investment and a multi-year risk period,” a challenge CDSA mitigates for investors.
● Robust Verification Challenge: Dr. Lotz underscored the difficulty in proving emissions reductions to external auditors, stating it “necessitates exceptionally rigorous and continuous data capture,” emphasizing the need for innovative MRV strategies.

CDSA’s Unique Value Proposition: From Risk to Return

CDSA’s core value proposition lies in its ability to de-risk carbon credit generation and aggregation, transforming it into a financially attractive proposition for investors and a compliance solution for high polluters.

Dr. Lotz emphasised CDSA’s foundational investment, stating, ‘We initially leveraged our own capital to build the infrastructure and meticulously de-risk the project. This extensive groundwork allows us to confidently approach external investors, demonstrating our unwavering belief in the model and its validated potential.’ This commitment of their own capital underscores CDSA’s confidence in their operational model and financial projections.

By providing demand certainty (driven by carbon tax liability) and price certainty (linked to the carbon tax rate), CDSA offers a predictable investment environment. They bridge the gap between small-scale solar producers and large industrial emitters, facilitating a circular flow of capital and environmental benefit.

Beyond South Africa: CDSA’s Roadmap for Regional Scale

CDSA is strategically partnering with “aggregators” – front-end companies who handle marketing and identifying solar installations. This allows CDSA to focus on its core expertise in carbon credit generation and management.

Furthermore, CDSA is integrating into the financial ecosystem by working with major banks, which buy and sell carbon credits. This ensures liquidity and access to a broader market for their generated credits. “We want to do this carbon credit as a service in the background for anything that banks actually funds,” Dr. Lotz explained, highlighting a strategic path for expanded reach.

With over 110 megawatts of installed capacity now being audited and a target of 300 megawatts by year-end, CDSA is poised for significant growth. Their vision includes expanding beyond South Africa into other Southern African countries like Namibia, adopting
a “cookie-cutter” approach for project rollout once a definite use case for common credits is established.

A Call for Investment: Driving Africa’s Green Transition

Dr. Lotz conveyed that CDSA, an organization built on engineering expertise, has successfully completed the rigorous technical development and de-risking phases of its projects. He explained, ‘Our primary focus has been on robust execution; with that now established, the critical next step is to communicate our proven success to stakeholders globally.’ This signifies a pivot towards strategic market engagement.

For investors, CDSA offers a compelling opportunity to participate in a de-risked, high-demand market. This investment fuels not just carbon credit generation but also a broader shift towards a cleaner economy. Dr. Lotz also highlighted CDSA’s commitment to knowledge sharing and training in carbon tax, credits, and footprinting for listed companies, further solidifying their role as industry leaders.

In a market often perceived as complex and opaque, CDSA stands out by offering verified impact and a clear financial model. “We need to be a solid project that makes money and not disappear after two years,” Dr. Lotz passionately declared, underscoring their commitment to tangible, sustainable results. CDSA provides a tangible entry point for capital into Africa’s green transition, proving that profitable businesses can, and must, drive environmental progress.