Endangered Wildlife Trust

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Location

South Africa

Sector

Infrastructure

Stage

Pre-feasibility

Overview

South Africa’s transition to renewable energy is critical to achieving global climate goals, yet new renewable infrastructure developments are increasingly located in biodiversity-rich landscapes. Without a coordinated approach to avoidance, minimisation and biodiversity offsets, the energy transition risks further biodiversity loss, exacerbating the climate crisis and undermining critical ecosystem services that communities depend on.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), supported by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation, has developed a national spatial decision-support tool that integrates renewable energy suitability with biodiversity sensitivity. This tool integrates data on energy infrastructure feasibility, agricultural commitments, species richness, ecosystem services, and conservation priorities to optimise land-use decisions, enabling developers and regulators to make faster, more transparent, and more defensible land-use decisions.

To actualise these insights, the project proposes establishing a National Biodiversity Offset Bank—a habitat banking mechanism that aggregates priority conservation sites into a vetted, finance-ready national portfolio. Developers can purchase credits from this bank to efficiently meet offset requirements, while investors gain access to measurable, regulated, nature-positive assets. A blended financing structure and long-term management plan ensure the durability of each offset site beyond the regulatory period.

Our approach supports South Africa’s Just Energy Transition by accelerating renewable deployment, mobilising finance for nature, climate adaptation and ecosystem services that people depend upon, and supporting green jobs in rural landscapes.

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Investment Needs

$7 600 000

Investment Project Type:

PPP

Invested Value to Date:

$300 000

Climate Classification:

Cross-cutting

Why Investing

High-impact contribution to national and global climate and biodiversity goals

The Renewable Habitat Bank directly supports South Africa’s Just Energy Transition by enabling responsible, faster siting of wind and solar projects while safeguarding threatened ecosystems. Investors help deliver measurable outcomes for many targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — including conserving 30% of land and restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems — while also advancing climate mitigation and adaptation through nature-based solutions. The model channels private capital into long-term ecosystem protection, sustaining vital ecosystem services, and provides renewable-energy developers with a compliant, efficient pathway to meet legally required biodiversity offsets.

Early entry into a high-growth, compliance-driven biodiversity credit market

The RHB offers a first-mover position in a scalable biodiversity credit and habitat banking system linked to South Africa’s growing renewable-energy pipeline and emerging natural-capital regulations. As demand for verified offset credits rises — driven by mandatory environmental authorisations and increasing corporate disclosure requirements — investors gain exposure to a future asset class of regulated, tradable natural-capital credits anchored in high-integrity conservation sites.

De-risked, science-based investment structure with long-term value creation

The mechanism is grounded in a robust, data-driven spatial planning tool that optimises the balance between conservation, agriculture, and renewable-energy development. This ensures site selection, verification, and management are science-led and transparent. Blended finance, first-loss capital, and a ring-fenced Conservation Trust Fund reduce ecological, market, and performance risks, while securing 30+ years of funded management. The structure provides predictable offset-credit demand, dependable long-term conservation outcomes, and a scalable platform for future portfolios combining restoration with compatible commercial land uses.

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